• Government Type: constitutional monarchy with a bicameral parliament which nominally heads the country. All but two Peninsular States are governed by hereditary leaders.
• Legal System: based on English common law, with judicial review of legislative acts by the Supreme Court at the request of the supreme head of the federation. In the area of family and religion, Islamic law is applied to Muslims.

• profited from higher world energy prices
• healthy foreign exchange reserves
• small external debt
• 2001-02: hit hard by global economic downturn and slump in information technology sector
• 2003: outbreak of SARS and pressures with Iraqi war
• high gas prices made government cut subsidies causing inflation to rise

• Climate: tropical with annual monsoons (seasons differ depending on the region)
• Terrain: coastal plains rising to hills and mountains

• Agriculture: rubber, palm oil, logging, subsistence crops, rice, etc.
• Industry: petroleum production, tin mining, rubber & palm oil processing, etc

• Labour Force by Occupation:
  • Agriculture: 13%
  • Industry: 36% 
  • Services: 51% (2005 est.)
• Unemployment Rate: 3.5% (2006 est.)
• Pop. Below Poverty Line: 5.1% (2002 est.)

Christian Perspective

The Church in Malaysia is slowly growing. Its main problem is restrictions placed on spreading the Good News. With the majority of the populace being Muslim, the State has made the shari’a criminal code part of the law. Increased visa problems have forced many expatriate Christian workers out of the country.