constitutional monarchy note: nominally headed by paramount ruler (commonly referred to as the King) and a bicameral Parliament consisting of a nonelected upper house and an elected lower house; all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government; powers of state governments are limited by federal constitution; under terms of federation, Sabah and Sarawak retain certain constitutional prerogatives (e.g., right to maintain their own immigration controls)
Independence date
12 December 1963 (from UK)
31 August 1957 (from UK)
Religions
Protestant 45%, Roman Catholic 33%, Muslim 10%, indigenous beliefs 10%, other 2% note: a large majority of Kenyans are Christian, but estimates for the percentage of the population that adheres to Islam or indigenous beliefs vary widely
Muslim 60.4%, Buddhist 19.2%, Christian 9.1%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 2.6%, other or unknown 1.5%, none 0.8% (2000 census)
Languages
English (official), Kiswahili (official), numerous indigenous languages
Bahasa Malaysia (official), English, Chinese (Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Hakka, Hainan, Foochow), Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Panjabi, Thai note: in East Malaysia there are several indigenous languages; most widely spoken are Iban and Kadazan
electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals
External Debt
$8,947,000,000 $
$87,810,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Kenyan shillings (KES) per US dollar - 68.358 (2008 est.), 68.309 (2007), 72.101 (2006), 75.554 (2005), 79.174 (2004)
ringgits (MYR) per US dollar - 3.33 (2008 est.), 3.46 (2007), 3.6683 (2006), 3.8 (2005), 3.8 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
2.800%
2.030%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
14
1
Location
Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Somalia and Tanzania
Southeastern Asia, peninsula bordering Thailand and northern one-third of the island of Borneo, bordering Indonesia, Brunei, and the South China Sea, south of Vietnam
Area
580,367 km sq
329,847 km sq
Coastline
536 km
4,675 km
Climate
varies from tropical along coast to arid in interior
tropical; annual southwest (April to October) and northeast (October to February) monsoons
