Malaysia

When I started searching for information about Malaysia, I quickly learned I had no idea what goes on in Malaysia. As I began searching, I learned that in the 1880’s rubber trees were introduced from Brazil. This would lead to workers being imported from India helping to create a valuable export in the form of rubber. The workers brought in from India worked the rubber plantations and maximized profits. Before rubber became such a valuable export, the independent state of Malaysia came into existence on September 16, 1963.

Everything that I discovered about Malaysia showed that there has been constant government corruption and different groups with strongholds within Malaysia. From the British to the Chinese and Indians, there had been so many people occupying the territory that it is no wonder that it took so long for a government to form. I found it interesting that Dr. Mohamad Mahathir was able to form Malaysia into what is referred to as “Asian Tiger.” I found this rather interesting and had to do a lot of searching to discover what all the “Asian Tiger” entailed. What I discovered, was that Malaysia was connected with Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand. All of these places are connected because of their economies. They gained the name due to using an export driven model of economic development used by Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Malaysia is referred to as a “cub” due to the fact that they are a rising Tiger. From the little I have ever heard about Malaysia, I would have never guessed that their economy is so powerful.

Overall I am amazed at how little I have ever heard about Malaysia and when looking up information, how little I still know. Being unsure how often Malaysia comes up, I found myself constantly wondering why I heard nothing. When looking up facts on Malaysia, I discovered that like the U.S.A, Malaysia is a melting pot. Everything I was able to find pointed directly to how great of a place Malaysia is, with all of the diversity and multiculturalism. The diversity referenced within the facts I found talked to how skyscrapers look over wooden houses along with their best hotels located just off of ancient reefs. As I learned about Malaysia I began to understand that this place may not be as secluded and off the map as I had thought before.

Learning about Malaysia has changed my thinking of what other countries have to offer. While there are a lot of countries that Americans visit, I have never had anyone I know visit Malaysia. The more I discovered about this country the more I wondered how I had never looked into this before. Malaysia has beautiful city lights along with oceans as clear as any I have ever seen. After discovering facts, the pictures were nowhere near what I expected. I half way thought that Malaysia would be run down and what we refer to as a “3^rd” world country. I could not stop looking at pictures after I saw the beauty that is Malaysia. If pictures are able to show this much beauty, I wonder what taking in all of these sights would be like in person? Malaysia has to be one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen.