Malaysia

Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy in Southeast Asia. It consists of thirteen states and three federal territories and has a total landmass of 329,847 square kilometres (127,350 sq mi) separated by the South China Sea into two similarly sized regions, Peninsular Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo.

A

 * I lived in Malaysia for three years in the kind of uncertainty westerners face only in times of war. The five daily calls to prayer are the only predictable events in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. The power cuts are frequent, the traffic jams continuous. Islam is the official religion, but materialism is the ruling creed. ... Islam is practised with ritual precision and with perfect reverence for its Arabian dimension. All Malays, including the royal family, look up to Arabs, the white men of the East.
 * Shabbir Akhtar, Perspective: Ex-defender of the faith, The Times Higher Education Supplement on 22 August 1997. Also reproduced in Goel, Sita Ram (editor) (1998). Freedom of expression: Secular theocracy versus liberal democracy.  (Chapter 28)

I

 * Malaysia fortunately has more than enough resources and wealth to address the issue of poverty. Therefore there is no excuse to not prioritize the problem at hand.
 * Anwar Ibrahim (2020) cited in: "Anwar says Malaysia rich, but many people still poor due to ingrained rent seeking culture" in Yahoo! News, 10 July 2020.

N

 * MALAYSIA steams. In the rainy season in the mornings the clouds build up. In the afternoon it pours, the blue-green hills vanish, and afterwards the clouds linger in the rifts in the mountains, like smoke. Creepers race up the steel guy ropes of telegraph poles; they overwhelm dying coconut branches even before the branches fall off; they cover dying trees or trees that cannot resist and create odd effects of topiary. Rain and sun and steam do not speak here of decay, of tropical lassitude; they speak of vigour, of rich things growing fast, of money.
 * Naipaul, V.S. - Among the Believers (Vintage, 1982)

P

 * We need the international community to come together to ensure that Malaysia responds to the ongoing investigations into the misappropriation of government funds, known as the 1MDB scandal, and does not try to cover up any wrongdoing. The attorney-general’s statement is just another in a long line of incidents that raises questions about the impartiality of the judiciary and Malaysia’s commitment to fighting corruption
 * TI's Asia Pacific regional director Srirak Plipat said it is urgently calling for greater protection of those who bring corruption to light in Malaysia and swift investigations into the corruption crisis surrounding the government, quoted on Malaysia Kini (February 16, 2015), "TI fears Malaysia moving towards autocracy"

R

 * In spite of the huge diversity in Malaysia in terms of religion, culture, race, ethnicity and so forth, we've really gone very far in developing this country.
 * Najib Razak (2012) cited in "Malaysia's PM hopes to forge a united nation" on CNN, 3 November 2010


 * Malaysia is a country unlike any other: full of promise and fragility. Its history, cultural and religious diversity make it a rich, compelling and surprising land. Chinese, Indian, Malay and, in a broader sense, Indonesian cultures live side by side, while Buddhism, Christianity and Islam all partake of its multi-layered heritage. Moreover, Malaysia possesses a first-rate economic and geostrategic potential.'''
 * Tariq Ramadan (2012) cited in "Islamic humanism can keep Malaysia from blindly mimicking West's mistakes" on ABC, 25 July 2012


 * We are all Malaysians. This is the bond that unites us. Let us always remember that unity is our fundamental strength as a people and as a nation.
 * Tunku Abdul Rahman cited in "" on New Straits Times, 13 February 2020


 * Our great aim must be to make Malaysia a haven of peace, harmony and happiness. We must strive for this with all our strength. We must be brave, we must be fair and we must be just, so that, come what may, we shall be ready as united Malaysian people to meet it.
 * Tunku Abdul Rahman cited in "In the words of our nation's founder" on The Sun Daily, 4 February 2014


 * The decay of the Soviet experiment should come as no surprise to us. Wherever the comparisons have been made between free and closed societies -- West Germany and East Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Malaysia and Vietnam -- it is the democratic countries what are prosperous and responsive to the needs of their people. And one of the simple but overwhelming facts of our time is this: Of all the millions of refugees we've seen in the modern world, their flight is always away from, not toward the Communist world. Today on the NATO line, our military forces face east to prevent a possible invasion. On the other side of the line, the Soviet forces also face east to prevent their people from leaving.
 * Ronald Reagan, Address to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, 8 June 1982

W

 * Malaysia is a beautiful, exciting tropical paradise. Sadly, it's also the graveyard of cinema.
 * American film critic Nathan Williams, quoted at "Malaysia’s new censorship guidelines restrict content even more, filmmakers say", Benar News (May 20, 2024)