Malaysia (/məˈleɪziə, –ʒə/ (listen) mə-LAY-zee-ə, -⁠zhə; Malay: [malɛjsia]) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo‘s East Malaysia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia, as well as a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. Kuala Lumpur is the national capital, the country’s largest city, and the seat of the legislative branch of the federal government. Putrajaya is the country’s administrative centre, which represents the seat of both the executive branch (the Cabinet and federal ministries and agencies) and the judicial branch of the federal government. With a population of over 33 million, Malaysia is the world’s 43rd-most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia is Tanjung Piai. Located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries and home to numerous endemic species.

Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms, which, from the 18th century on, became subject to the British Empire, along with the British Straits Settlements protectorate. During World War Two, British Malaya, along with other nearby British and American colonies, was occupied by the Empire of Japan.^[14] Following three years of occupation, Peninsular Malaysia was unified as the Malayan Union in 1946 and then restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948. Malaysia achieved independence on 31 August 1957. On 16 September 1963, independent Malaya united with the then British crown colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore to become Malaysia. In August 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation and became a separate, independent country.^[15]

Malaysia is multiethnic and multicultural, which has a significant effect on its politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Chinese, Indians, and indigenous peoples. The official language is Malaysian Malay, a standard form of the Malay language. English remains an active second language. While recognising Islam as the official religion, the constitution grants freedom of religion to non-Muslims. The government is modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system, and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is an elected monarch, chosen from among the nine state sultans every five years. The head of government is the prime minister.

After independence, the gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an average rate of 6.5% per year for almost 50 years. The country’s economy has traditionally been fuelled by its natural resources but is expanding into commerce, medical tourism, and tourism. Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third-largest in Southeast Asia and 36th-largest in the world.^[16] Malaysia is a founding member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Commonwealth, the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

Etymology

The name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malays and the Latin-Greek suffix -ia/-ία^[17] which can be translated as ‘land of the Malays’.^[18] The origin of the word Melayu is subject to various theories. It may derive from the Sanskrit Himalaya, referring to areas high in the mountains, or Malaiyur-pura, meaning ‘mountain town’.^[19] Another similar theory claims its origin lies in the Tamil words malai and ur meaning ‘mountain’ and ‘city, land’, respectively.^[20][21][22] Another suggestion is that it derives from the Pamalayu campaign. A final suggestion is that it comes from a Javanese word meaning ‘to run’, from which a river, the Sungai Melayu (‘Melayu river’), was named due to its strong current.^[19] Similar-sounding variants have also appeared in accounts older than the 11th century, as toponyms for areas in Sumatra or referring to a larger region around the Strait of Malacca.^[23] The Sanskrit text Vayu Purana, thought to have been in existence since the first millennium CE, mentioned a land named ‘Malayadvipa’ which was identified by certain scholars as the modern Malay peninsula.^{[24][25][26][27][28]} Other notable accounts are by the 2nd-century Ptolemy’s Geographia that used the name Malayu Kulon for the west coast of Golden Chersonese, and the 7th-century Yijing‘s account of Malayu.^[23]

At some point, the Melayu Kingdom took its name from the Sungai Melayu.^[19][29] Melayu then became associated with Srivijaya,^[23] and remained associated with various parts of Sumatra, especially Palembang, where the founder of the Malacca Sultanate is thought to have come from.^[30] It is only thought to have developed into an ethnonym as Malacca became a regional power in the 15th century. Islamisation established an ethnoreligious identity in Malacca, with the term Melayu beginning to appear as interchangeable with Melakans. It may have specifically referred to local Malays speakers thought loyal to the Malaccan Sultan. The initial Portuguese use of Malayos reflected this, referring only to the ruling people of Malacca. The prominence of traders from Malacca led Melayu to be associated with Muslim traders, and from there became associated with the wider cultural and linguistic group.^[23] Malacca and later Johor claimed they were the centre of Malay culture, a position supported by the British which led to the term Malay becoming more usually linked to the Malay peninsula rather than Sumatra.^[30]

Before the onset of European colonisation, the Malay Peninsula was known natively as Tanah Melayu (‘Malay Land’).^[31] Under a racial classification created by a German scholar Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, the natives of maritime Southeast Asia were grouped into a single category, the Malay race.^[32][33] Following the expedition of French navigator Jules Dumont d’Urville to Oceania in 1826, he later proposed the terms of Malaysia, Micronesia and Melanesia to the Société de Géographie in 1831, distinguishing these Pacific cultures and island groups from the existing term Polynesia. Dumont d’Urville described Malaysia as “an area commonly known as the East Indies”.^[34] In 1850, the English ethnologist George Samuel Windsor Earl, writing in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, proposed naming the islands of Southeast Asia as “Melayunesia” or “Indunesia”, favouring the former.^[35] The name Malaysia gained some use to label what is now the Malay Archipelago.^[36] In modern terminology, Malay remains the name of an ethnoreligious group of Austronesian people predominantly inhabiting the Malay Peninsula and portions of the adjacent islands of Southeast Asia, including the east coast of Sumatra, the coast of Borneo, and smaller islands that lie between these areas.^[37]

The state that gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1957 took the name the Federation of Malaya, chosen in preference to other potential names such as Langkasuka, after the historic kingdom located at the upper section of the Malay Peninsula in the first millennium CE.^[38][39] The name Malaysia was adopted in 1963 when the existing states of the Federation of Malaya, plus Singapore, North Borneo and Sarawak formed a new federation.^[40][d] One theory posits the name was chosen so that si represented the inclusion of Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak to Malaya in 1963.^[40] Politicians in the Philippines contemplated renaming their state Malaysia before the modern country took the name.^[42]