The Host Nation of the 16 th Commonwealth Games
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Malaysia
Lies between latitudes 1 degrees and 7 degrees north and longitudes
100 degrees and 120 degrees east. Mostly dense tropical jungle Mountainous:
Consist of West or Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia covering Sabah
and Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
- in Peninsular Malaysia, northwest to southeast range culminates in
Mt. Gunong Tahan 2,179.7 metres;
- in Sabah, Mt. Kinabalu reaches 4,081.3 metres; and,
- highest point in Sarawak is Mt. Murud 2,411.5 metres.
Main rivers: Perak and Pahang in Peninsular Malaysia, Kinabatangan in
Sabah, Rejang in Sarawak.
- Neighboring countries:
- Peninsular Malaysia:
- north: Thailand;
- south: Singapore; and,
- west: Indonesia (island of Sumatra) across the Malacca Strait;
- Sabah and Sarawak (East Malaysia):
- south: Indonesia;
- northeast: Philippines; and,
- north: Brunei Darussalam forms an enclave within Sarawak on northwest
coast.
- Time:
- Greenwich Mean Time plus 8 hours.
- Climate:
- Tropical with southwest and northeast monsoons;
- Sarawak, northeast monsoon and heavy rain October-February, mild southwest
monsoon April-July;
- Sabah, northeast monsoon November-April, southwest monsoon May-August;
- peninsular Malaysia generally wettest between monsoon seasons;
- temperature range 21 degrees to 32 degrees Celsius;
- high humidity;
- average rainfall 254 centimetres with wide local variations:
- Peninsular Malaysia 165 to 503 centimetres;
- Sabah 25 to 406 centimetres.
- Status:
- Federal constitutional monarchy.
- Capital:
- Kuala Lumpur (estimated population 1,158,200).
- Other main towns:
- George Town (Penang)
- Ipoh
- Malacca
- Johore Bahru (near Singapore)
- Kota Kinabalu (Sabah, East Malaysia)
- Kuantan (East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia) and,
- Kuching (Sarawak, East Malaysia).
- Population:
- 19,861,000 (1995) increasing by 2.6 per cent per year;
- 37.1 per cent under 15 years of age;
- life expectancy 70 years; and,
- infant mortality 23 per 1,000 live births.
- Main languages:
- Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Tamil, English.
- Official language:
- Bahasa Malaysia.
Main religions:
- Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christianity.
- Currency:
- 1RM$ or Ringgit (US$ 1) = RM$ 4.10.(Aug 1998)
- Exports:
- Machinery and transport equipment, petroleum, natural gas, rubber,
palm oil, timber, tin.
- Imports:
- Machinery and transport equipment, basic manufactures, chemicals, food
and live animals.
- Main industries:
- Rubber and palm processing, manufacturing, mining.
- Main crops:
- Rubber, rice, coconut, pepper, cocoa, palm kernels, tea, oil palm
- Tourism:
- Significant contribution to economy; approximately 6.4 million arrivals
per year.
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