MALAYSIA HISTORY
Malaysia has the world's oldest rainforests. The forests of Sabah are the home of trees towering over one hundred metres high.
The ancient geographer Ptolemy called Malaysia Aurea Chersonesus, meaning “peninsula of gold”.
In the early 15th century, Sultan Iskandar Shah, a runaway king of the former Kingdom of Singapura, founded the Malacca Sultanate, commonly considered the first independent state in the peninsula area. Malacca was an important commercial centre during this time, attracting trade from around the region.
Captain Francis Light was an English trader-adventurer working for the Madras-based firm, Jourdain Sullivan and de Souza and the East India Company. Light founded the British colony of Penang on August 11, 1786. The following day he named the island Prince of Wales Island (now Penang Island) in honor of the birthday of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV. and named the new settlement George Town in honor of King George III. This begun 170 years of British involvement in Malaysia.
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| Statue of Francis Light in the Fort Cornwallis of Penang. By calflier001 - Wikipedia Commons |
The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gained its independence from the United Kingdom on August 31, 1957.
August 31st is celebrated as independence day each year in Malaysia. It is also known as Merdeka Day, after the cry of “Merdeka!” (meaning independent or free) that went up when independence was declared.
Malaysia was formed from the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawakon September 16, 1963.
Singapore was expelled from Malaysia on August 9, 1965, becoming the first and only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.
Kuala Lumpur is one of three Malaysian Federal Territories. It was declared a Federal Territory on February 1, 1974.
The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were the world's tallest buildings from 1998-2004.
In August 1997, a model of the Malaysian flag was completed, made out of 10,430 floppy disks. The country's deputy education minister described this as 'an event Malaysia can be proud of'.
In 1997, the state of Kelantan, Malaysia ruled that lights would be kept on in cinemas in order to deter people from kissing and cuddling.
Mahathir Mohamad retired from being Malaysia's Prime Minister on October 31, 2003. His 22 years in office made him one of Asia's longest-serving political leaders. His political career spanned more than 70 years since he first joined a newly-formed UMNO in 1946.
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| Tun Dr. Mahathir during National Day 2007. By Rizan - Wikipedia Commons |
The Istana Negara is the official residence of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the head of state of Malaysia. It is located along Jalan Duta in northern Kuala Lumpur. The palace opened on November 15, 2011 and replaced the old Istana Negara which was located at a different compound in central Kuala Lumpur.
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| Istana Negara, Jalan Duta. By Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas /Wikipedia Commons |
MALAYSIA FUN FACTS
The origin of bananas can be traced back to the Malaysian jungles of Southeast Asia, where so many varieties and names for the banana are from that area.
The Malaysian phrase for the time it takes to eat a banana is "pisan zapra" and it was a measure of time used before clocks were invented.
The Malaysian monarch is elected for a five-year term by the Conference of Rulers.
After the 2016 Rio Olympics, eight of Malaysia's eleven medals were for men's badminton; two of the others were for diving and one for cycling.
Caning is a common punishment under Malaysian law. The maximum number of strokes that can be ordered is 24. Women are never caned, nor are boys under the age of 10 or men over 50, except for rape.
Some buildings in Malaysia replace the 4th floor with “3A” as the sound of four (sì) is similar to the sound of death in Chinese (sĭ ).
Malaysia’s currency is the ringgit, which means “jagged”. It originally referred to the jagged edges of Spanish silver dollars used in the region.
The 19 A's in Malaysian Scrabble is the highest number of one Scrabble letter in any language.
Malaysia is the world’s largest supplier of rubber gloves.
Source Daily Express
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