Malaysia is a growing third world country located in Southeast Asia. This country is separated into two parts. The peninsular Malaysia, located at the south of Thailand and north of Singapore makes up 2068km of Malaysian coastline while the east part which is located in the island of Borneo makes up the rest 2607km. Malaysia consists of nine sultanates (Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Selangor and Terengganu), two states headed by governors (Malacca and Penang), the states of Sabah and Sarawak (in east Malaysia) and three federal territories (Putrajaya, Labuan and Kuala Lumpur). Putrajaya is referred to as administrative center not capital. The parliament meets in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is a federal constitutional elective monarchy. The federal head of state is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (The King of Malaysia). The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected to a five year term among the nine hereditary Sultans of the Malay state. The other four states which have titular Governors do not participate in this selection. The local climate is equatorial and characterized by the annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons. Due to this favorable local climate, Malaysia is well-endowed with natural resources in areas such as agriculture, forestry as well as minerals.
In terms of agriculture, Malaysia is the world's primary exporter of natural rubber and palm oil, which together with sawn logs and sawn timber, cocoa, pepper, pineapple and tobacco dominate the growth of the sector. Palm oil is also a major generator of foreign exchange. Tin and petroleum are the two main mineral resources that are of major significance in the Malaysian economy. In 2004, Malaysia was ranked as the 24th in terms of world oil reserves. The total Malaysian population is about 24,821,286(July 2007). This population is made up of several major ethnic groups (the Malays 50.4%, Chinese 23.7%, indigenous 11%, Indians 7.1%, and other ethnic groups 7.8%(2004) ). The Malaysian official language is Bahasa Malaysia while the official religion is Islam. Other religions and languages however, can be practiced without any restrictions.