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People of Malaysia
Malaysia has a multicultural society, with Malays, Chinese and Indians coexisting. The Malays who are
Muslims and speak Bahasa are the largest community and are politically strong. The Chinese comprising about a third of the population are Buddhists and Taoists, and speak Hokkein, Hakka and Cantonese, and are dominant in business.
Indians accounting for about 10% of the population are mainly Hindu Tamils and speak Tamil, Malayalam, and some Hindi, and occupy larger towns on the west coast. There is also a sizeable Sikh community. Eurasians and indigenous tribes make up the remaining population. Despite Bahasa Malaysia being the official language, English is the connective element.
Arts, Culture and Music of Malaysia
Heavily influenced by Chinese and Islamic forms of music, Malaysian music is based largely around the gendang (drum), but also includes percussion instruments, flutes, trumpets and gongs. A strong tradition of dance and dance dramas is prevalent, some of which are of Thai, Indian and Portuguese
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origin. Other artistic forms include wayang kulit (shadow-puppets), silat (a stylized martial art) and crafts such as batik, weaving and silver and brass work.
Flag of Malaysia
The Malaysian flag contains 14 equal horizontal stripes of red (top) alternating with white (bottom); there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a yellow crescent and a yellow fourteen-pointed star; the crescent and the star are traditional symbols of Islam; the design was based on the flag of the US.
Please click here to view the Flag of Malaysia
Economy of Malaysia
Malaysia has emerged from being a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. The mainstay of the economy has been the export of electronics. Healthy foreign exchange reserves and relatively small external debt make it a healthy economy.
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