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  • Well, here we go! Ever since I made the Indonesia episode,

  • you have no idea how many Malaysians were like "Okay now that you did our cousin's episode. Do not mess with ours"

  • Oh, don't worry Malaysia and here to reassure you. I made you some nasi goreng.

  • Hey everybody, I'm your host Barbs. How refreshing? We are back in Southeast Asia and today after Brunei, East Timor, Indonesia

  • We are doing the last country in the Nusantara Archipelago, Malaysia! Ahem...

  • Oh, sorry didn't see you there Singapore. You're so small. So what do the Malaysians bring to the table that the others don't?

  • Well, let's find out in the first segment. Cue transition!

  • Now this is gonna be really fun, because Malaysia's land has so many unique twists and turns and explaining it's you know,

  • it's kind of like doing a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. Right Ken? -Right. Yeah. -Yeah, you got it

  • -I don't know. Did I? -You got it. -Cool!

  • Uh, can I have my lunch break now? -Ken, you know, I don't speak Tagalog. Back to the coal mines.

  • First of all, Malaysia is located in Southeast Asia divided into two main parts Peninsular Malaysia, (with) about 40 percent of land,

  • which also has the southernmost tip of mainland Asia, Tanjung Piai,

  • While East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo takes about 60% of the country's land on the island of Borneo,

  • making it one of the only two islands shared by three nations along with Cyprus

  • If you want to be technical Cyprus kind of has four including the UN buffer zone,

  • but you get the point. Just watch the Cyprus episode.

  • Keep in mind, about 80 percent of the population lives on the peninsula, while only about 20 percent live on Malaysian Borneo. In addition the

  • country has over 870 islands off its shores. The state of Sabah having the most with nearly

  • 400. The largest one being Banggi Island,

  • however, the island of Sebatik is a little bigger, but the island is split in half with Indonesia in the south.

  • Also

  • they have a little bit of a dispute with the Philippines in the east. The country is divided into 13 states and three federal

  • territories who Putrajaya, Labuan with the capital Kuala Lumpur, however

  • due to overcrowding, almost all the government ministries and administrative offices were moved to Putrajaya in

  • 1999. After Kuala Lumpur, the next largest cities are Georgetown on Penang Island and Ipoh.

  • The busiest airports are Kuala Lumpur International Kota Kinabalu and Penang internationals.

  • Here's the thing: Malaysia lies under the South China Sea.

  • If you don't know anything about this place and if you didn't watch the Brunei episode, it basically goes like this:

  • Basically, every country in this area wants a piece of these things called the Spratly Islands. Today

  • Malaysia has claimed to about eleven of them and the most notable one being Layang Layang, which they built an airbase on. Now

  • you might notice that it's interesting how these two small entities Singapore and Brunei got mixed up into this whole region.

  • Well when it came to Brunei, it kind of went down like this:

  • -Welcome to the Malaysia agreement. Sultans, please sign the paper saying you'd like to be part of Malaysia.

  • -Wait, I have to give up that? And and I'd have to lose control of

  • what? Oh hell no! As for Singapore, it was more like: -Hey Malaysia! You just got free from British rule!

  • Let's join up. -Makes sense? Yeah, we are now one country

  • You have too many Chinese people! And you're gonna waste my money!

  • -Yeah well you only give priviledges to the Malays! -You know what? You're out of the club! -Yeah fine, you know, whatever. I quit! One day,

  • You know what? I'm gonna make something up myself! -Okay! -And boy howdy, did they keep that promise?

  • Otherwise some notable places of interest might include places like: the largest

  • roundabout in the world, the Petronas Towers the tallest twin buildings in the world,

  • Kuala Lumpur tower, the Batu caves with a Hindu shrine the National Monument of Malaysia, Legoland Malaysia. Yep,

  • they have one. Sunway lagoon the National Mosque of Malaysia, Kek Lok Si Buddhist temple, these

  • palaces, the old Dutch buildings of Malacca, the leaning tower of Teluk Intan, A Famosa fortress, the cat statue of Kuching, this Heritage Museum

  • Sarawak cultural villages and the Sepilok orangutan rehabilitation center. Yeah, orangutans,

  • they have plenty of those in here, which means we can now swing over to the next segment

  • When it comes to Malaysia's land,

  • they got kind of lucky because not only is it like rich and beautiful, but unlike their neighbors,

  • you don't really have to deal with any crazy catastrophes.

  • First of all,

  • Malaysia rests comfortably on the bottom of the Eurasian Plate, literally shielded on all sides, mostly by Indonesia and the Philippines.

  • This means that if any earthquakes occur, Indonesia usually absorbs all of it,

  • if cyclones and tropical storms attack, the Philippines and Indonesia take the hit, and if a volcano erupts

  • they don't have to worry, because they don't really have any volcanoes, and it's probably happening in Indonesia.

  • -Thanks, Indonesia!

  • Now when it comes to nature,

  • even though the largest lake the Kenyir reservoir lies on the West Peninsular Malaysian side, the Eastern Malaysian

  • Borneo side has all the extremes. They have the highest mountain, Mount Kinabalu, the longest river, the Rajang and a lot more animals!

  • In fact, Malaysia is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world. They have

  • 14,500 species of flowering plants and trees, over 600 bird species over, 200 species of mammals.

  • Speaking of which Peninsular Malaysia is home to the most Black Panthers in the world (insert

  • Wakanda joke for a long time). Speaking of that, the national animal is the Malaysian tiger,

  • which is also featured on the coat of arms, which we'll cover in Flag Friday. Stay tuned!

  • Otherwise, they have elephants, rhinos, orangutans and even have their own version of tapirs, like the ones in South America. Wow.

  • And that creepy looking proboscis monkey.

  • Many of these species you can find in one of the oldest rainforests in the world, over three times older than the Amazon, Taman Negara.

  • Malaysia is also a land of caves. In fact, they have the largest chamber in the world that can be found in Sarawak.

  • Otherwise, Malaysia is known for producing electronics, palm oil, petroleum, gas and rubber.

  • They're actually the second largest palm oil producer in the world and the largest

  • condom maker. Just saying, They even have their own national car company,

  • Proton, making Malaysia the 11th country in the world with the capability to fully design and engineer and manufacture cars.

  • Otherwise some national dishes might include things like:

  • Nasi Kandar,

  • Nasi Dagang,

  • Nasi Kerabu, chicken perchik, mangosteen, and durian are treasured fruits and the national dish, Nasi Lemak. Oh, if you have the chance,

  • see if you can witness the famous Tarik tea shows. The servers pour out tea, sometimes over a metre in length.

  • It's almost seen as like an art form. Okay, I think that's just about it for now in this segment.

  • Let's talk about the coolest part of Malaysia, the

  • Malaysians.

  • Just for the record, the word Malay refers to the races that make up Malaysia,

  • Malayan is the geographic term for peoples of West Malaysia on the peninsula, and not part of Borneo, and

  • Malaysian is a nationality and citizenship.

  • So a Malay person in Singapore is Malay, but not Malaysian. And a citizen of Indian descent living in Kuala

  • Lumpur would be a Malaysian and Malayan, but not Malay. Got it? Probably not.

  • First of all, the country has about 32 million people and is one of the fastest growing nations in Asia.

  • The country is made up of 67% Malay or Bumiputera, indigenous Malay peoples.

  • We'll talk more about that in a bit. About a quarter of the population is Chinese, about seven percent are Indians, and the rest are

  • other groups mixed in, including a few other Asian groups and Europeans. They use the Malaysian Ringgit as their currency,

  • they use the type G and M plug outlets, and they drive on the left side of the road. Now, here's a thing,

  • let's talk politics.

  • No, we're not getting into an ideological debate. We're just gonna explain the system in which Malaysia's government operates

  • -Procede.

  • Malaysia is one of the few monarchies in the world,

  • however,

  • It's not a monarchy in the conventional sense, because they kind of have nine

  • kings

  • ish.

  • These nine states each have a royal leader known as a sultan and, every five years they rotate to allow one of the nine Sultan's

  • to rule as head King known as the Yang di-pertuan Agong.

  • That means that technically, if you were a boy and your dad just finished being king for his five-year term,

  • you could be the next one, but you would have to wait at least forty years for it to happen,

  • you know since eight other Kings would have to be king before you. Yeah,

  • I know, it's like ''Oh what the?'' There's a lot more that goes into it,

  • but that's kind of like the basic underlying. They're the only country that does this.

  • I mean the closest thing would be maybe the Comoros with that rotating president thing,

  • but it's nowhere near as complex as this. Nonetheless

  • The Royals are held under a constitution that limits their power, mostly to cultural and religious affairs, as well as appointing certain leaders,

  • and so on.

  • Most of the government activity is held and controlled by the Prime Minister and the Parliament, which brings us to the most recent controversy, the

  • 2018 election. This effectively changed everything, as for the first time since 1957

  • The BN (National Front) party was voted out, and the new PKR ( People's Justice Party) party took over. And it was actually a peaceful transition.

  • We really don't have a lot of time to talk about it,

  • but it's really interesting to look into and talk to a Malaysian person if you want to know more about it.

  • It was like a huge deal for the country.

  • Anyway, the country has two official recognized languages, Malay and English. They were once a British territory, so it kind of makes sense.

  • It's taught from elementary school. Malay is basically intelligible to Indonesian. Both countries can generally understand each other.

  • I explained this a bit in the Indonesia episode. From Malay the words are easy to read but the problem is the intonation.

  • For example, the word for slowly I believe is PER-la-han not Per-LA-han.

  • It's like you just have to know how these things work. Nonetheless about half

  • the population is mostly fluent in three languages, adding their mother tongue, especially if they're part of the Chinese and Indian minority groups.

  • And they are allowed to take vernacular schools that teach in these languages, just like Singapore. Which brings to culture. In Malaysia,

  • the population is quite diverse.

  • You have a lot of Chinese known as the Peranakan Chinese that have existed there since the 15th century.

  • They have a unique Chinese Malay culture with a touch of European influence.

  • The Indian community is mostly Tamil and Telugu speaking South Dravidian Indian groups that were brought over during the British colonial

  • years. Then of course

  • you have the largest people group the ethnic Malays or the Bumiputera, as well as the Orang Asal who are like the really

  • indigenous ethnic Malays that make up the majority of the population in East Malaysia on Borneo.

  • Sometimes these two people groups are collectively joined together under the term Malay, although some might disagree.

  • But either way these two groups kind of steer the direction in terms of what constitutes Malay culture.

  • Oh and don't even get started on the Bajau people that live on these structures in the middle of the ocean for most of their

  • lives and they've adapted to hold their breath for like 15 minutes underwater. Yeah. Those people are cool. Another thing

  • I really want to highlight is that sometimes,

  • Indonesians do kind of accuse Malaysians of stealing their culture, because a lot of Malaysians are descended from

  • Sumatra. Faith wise, Malaysia is also quite diverse. Although the country's official religion is Islam. It's a multi-confessional nation.

  • Buddhists are mostly from the Chinese community, Hindus for the Indians, Christians from all races.

  • Numerous temples, mosques and shrines and churches are found all over.

  • Malay culture is defined by a number of aspects: for one the clothing, Remember a couple months ago that guy from Malaysia, Kamarul sent

  • me the Malay hat the tengkolok

  • So I forgot to bring this on set when we were filming

  • But I still have the Hat and I loved it and I told you I would wear it in the episode

  • So here I am. I'm wearing it in the Malaysian episode. Thank you so much, man

  • I asked some of you guys to Malaysian geography what you would like me to highlight in terms of Malay culture and some things you

  • Said included things like the Performing Arts such as Joget dancing and Mak Yung theatre, traditional shadow puppetry

  • Silat martial arts, songket weaving

  • the traditional steep roof and sharp buttress architecture, Gamelan music.

  • Speaking of which, history time. We don't have enough time to go too far into it

  • but in the quickest way I can put it: Hindu kingdoms, Buddhist kingdoms,

  • Islamic Sultanate, Portuguese came in Dutch came in, British came in and made the white Raja period which made things interesting,

  • World War two Japanese came in, British came in again, Independence...

  • Okay, very quickly just to cut.

  • This is the part where I totally forgot to mention all the cool stuff that happened in the 60s.

  • It's how they got those two states in Borneo. We'll explain more on flag fan Friday. So stay tuned.

  • Economic restructuring and industry boom,

  • 2018 vote for the new Prime Minister,

  • and here we are today. Some notable people that you guys the Malaysian geography suggested that I should mention in this video might include people like:

  • Siti Nurhaliza, Lat the cartoonist, Sheikh Mustafa Shakur, P. Ramlee, Zee Avi, Hang Tuah

  • Enrique of Malacca, Michelle Yeoh, Tony Fernandes AirAsia owner designer Jimmy Choo

  • Melinda Louie, singer Yuna, director James Wan,

  • Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Nicole Ann David, Lee Chong Wei, Henry Goulding and the first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

  • I'm sure there's way more famous people I could have mentioned but we gotta move on.

  • Time to go to the last part of this episode, the...

  • Now Malaysia is quite the powerhouse player when it comes to Southeast Asia.

  • They got a good thing going on and they host great parties. Outside of Asia,

  • The EU has good relations making Malaysia one of the top three trading partners of Southeast Asia and specifically,

  • Austria loves exchanging electronics and pharmaceuticals with them.

  • Of course the UK is still pretty close. As a former colony much of the cultural residue is still evident to this day.

  • They are one of the Commonwealth of Nations.

  • Many Malaysians live in the UK and most of the white population in Malaysia are of British descent.

  • As a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of course, they have close ties to their neighbors.

  • Cambodians love Malaysia and visit often whereas Malaysia is one of the closest and biggest investors of Cambodia

  • Thailand has a few issues, since there are those Malay Pattani separatists in the South that keep protesting.

  • Wwhereas the Philippines is like: "Hmmm, we're really similar, ethnically

  • But you're mostly Muslim and I'm mostly Catholic, but whatever, we both like coffee and fried chicken." When it comes to their best friends

  • however, most Malaysians I've talked to have said Indonesia and Singapore. Singapore may have left the Malaysian Union

  • but they still kept close ties as a sovereign state.

  • They are quite cooperative and business and even culturally they are very similar with noticeable Chinese and Indian minority enclaves.

  • Indonesia is like the Big Brother that has a very different political system

  • but in the end, they cannot deny how alike they are. The biggest difference would be that most Indonesians have a Javanese background

  • whereas the Malaysians are just Malay mostly Sumatran.

  • But they talk the same, they eat the same, they enjoy the same hot humid atmosphere

  • and they have close relations all together. In conclusion, with Sultans, kings, tigers, panthers, temples, shrines, mosques, and really cool hats,

  • It's no wonder why Malaysia is becoming a hot spot that everyone's talking about today. Stay tuned. The Maldives is coming up next.

Well, here we go! Ever since I made the Indonesia episode,

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