CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 04/2018

LE MONDE MALAYSIA
INFO
George Town on the island
Penang is famous for its street
art.
Campaign for
tourism and
building electric
cars
Tourism is important for
Malaysia's economy. In
2016, nearly 27 million
international guests arrived
in the country. With this
number, Malaysia is ranked
under the twelve most
visited countries of the
world. "The Tourism
Malaysia integrated
promotional plan 2018 to
2020" has been
implemented to tackle
existing challenges and
improve Malaysia’s tourism
performance. The kick-off
of the "Visit Malaysia
2020“-campaign in various
countries is targeting 36
million tourists.
Petronas is Malaysia's fully
integrated oil and gas
multinational company. The
group is ranked number 191
of the world's largest
corporations in the
FORTUNE Global Ranking
500 of 2018.
Proton is very relevant as
well. The company is active
in automobile design,
car-manufacturing, distribution
and sales. Building
electric cars will be an
important task in the near
future.
The KL Monorail Line in Kuala
Lumpur runs 8.6 kilometres and
is the only operational monorail
system in Malaysia.
ted in Borneo. In the year 2000, Gunung Mulu made
it on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
With a land mass of more than 330,803 square
kilometres, Malaysia is about four times as big as
Austria. Nearly the same relation shows the comparison
of the population of the two countries. Malaysia
has about 32 million inhabitants, the corresponding
figure for Austria is 8.7 million. Like in many
other countries, the population of Malaysia is supposed
to grow. According to estimations published by
the United Nations, the population of the Asian
country could reach a number of nearly 37 million in
2030 and approximately 42 million in 2050.
Malaysia is located in the southeast of Asia and is
separated by the South China Sea into two regions.
These areas are Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysian
which is also known as East Malaysia. Malaysia
borders Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.
The country consists of 13 states and the three federal
territories Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya as the seat of
the government and the island Labuan which is located
in the east of Malaysia. These three territories do
not belong to any of the 13 states.
From the political point of view, Malaysia is organised
as a constitutional election monarchy. Since
December 2016, Sultan Muhammad V. is as elected
monarch King of Malaysia. Usually, the king carries
the official title "Yang di-Pertuan Agong“. The head
of the government which is closely modelled on the
Westminster parliamentary system, is Tun Mahathir
bin Mohamad. Ganeson Sivagurunathan, the Ambassador
of Malaysia to Austria: „Tun Mahathir bin
Mohamad is known under the name Dr. M as well.
Since March 2018, he is prime minister of Malaysia.
He was already in office between 1981 and 2003.“ In
the last general elections, Tun Mahathir bin Mohamad
was the candidate of the opposition which won
the elections. With this win, a new era started, since
it was the first time of change in more than 60 years.
According to Ambassador Ganeson Sivagurunathan,
the transition was peaceful.
And peace is generally a term that can be used if
one is talking about the country in the southeast of
Asia. Mainly, because of the fact that different indigenous
groups and different races of people following
different religions, are living together in peace.
Malaysia definitely is a multinational, multicultural
country. The peaceful coexistence has been lasting
very long already. In this respect, Malaysia may serve
as a role model for many other countries.
PHOTOS: TOURISM MALAYSIA
About half of Malaysia's population belongs to
the ethnic group of Malays. About eleven percent are
Chinese, nearly eight percent are Indians and around
seven percent belong to indigenous peoples like
Orang Asli and Dayak. The Islam is the official religion
of Malaysia. About 61 percent of the Malaysian
population are Muslims. The Malaysians that belong
to the Chinese part of the inhabitants are Buddhists,
Confucians or Christs. There is a wide mix of religions
that inhabitants – who have their roots in India
or Sri Lanka – believe in. They are Hindus, Muslims,
Sikhs, Christs or Buddhists.
Over the centuries, Malaysia had to live with major
influences from other countries. In the 16 th century,
the town of Malakka was conquered by the Portuguese.
This enabled the European country to take
control over the trade of spices between Europe and
Asia. In 1641, the Dutch occupied Malakka and a big
part of the Malayan peninsula. Architecture that was
influenced by the Dutch, is visible in Malakka until
now. Great Britain's influence rose step by step from
the first quarter of the 19 th century.
The independence of Malaysia goes back to the
31 st of August 1957. This was the time, when the federation
under the name Malaya was founded. In
these days, Sarawak und Sabah weren't members of
the federation. The next step was set in 1963. On the
31 st of July 1963, the Malaysia Act which was an Act
of the Parliament in the United Kingdom, came into
operation. The Act led to a merge of the states of
North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore with the existing
states of the Federation of Malaya. As a result of
the Act the Federation of Malaya was renamed Malaysia
in September the 16 th of 1963. But Singapore
wasn't a part of the Federation for a long time. On
August the 9 th of 1965, Singapore became an indipendent
state.
In some parts of Malaysia's every day life, the influence
of the United Kingdom is still visible. The
official language of Malaysia is called Bahasa Malaysia,
which means Malaysian. But many Malaysians
are still using English as a second language. This
seems to be a practical detail for tourists, travelling to
Malaysia. Yet travellers have to notice that the Eng-
Penang Cityscape (above).
Penang CHEO Skyline from
George Town, the capital city
of the Malaysian state of
Penang (below).
IT’S ALL ABOUT
FLAVOR
The Dstrikt Steakhouse has gained renown for its rare
prime cuts of only the highest quality beef, sourced from
Austrian producers and grilled to perfection on an original
charcoal-fired Josper grill. For those keen on pairing cuisine
with wine, there’s an inspired list of vintages overseen by
award-winning sommeliere, Sindy Kretschmar.
BUSINESS LUNCH AT THE 1 st DSTRIKT
Let us spoil you with only the finest seasonal dishes
by Executive Chef, Andreas Mahl during your lunch
break on weekdays.
€ 14,00 per person / including one soft drink
12 pm until 2.30 pm
Dstrikt Steakhouse
The Ritz-Carlton, Vienna
Schubertring 5-7
Vienna, 1010 Austria
dstriktsteakhouse
Reserve a table at the restaurant:
Phone: +43 1 311 88 150
vienna.restaurant@ritzcarlton.com
www.ritzcarlton/vienna
40
Cercle Diplomatique 4/2018