Malaysia Research

I did not know very much about Malaysia before researching. In fact, I hardly knew the basics. What I found out is that Malaysia is located in Asia, and has a mixture of races and religions, making it very diverse. The various races include Malays, Indians, Chinese, and many others. The constitution declares Islam to be the state religion. Since their independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with a GDP growing an average of 6.5% for almost 50 years. I think that is a great thing they can pride themselves on. My research said that Malaysia has traditionally been fueled on their natural resources but they are now expanding on their science, tourism, commerce and medical tourism. This now means that Malaysia has an industrialized market economy placing them 3rd largest in Southeast Asia, and 29th largest in the world. I did not know what to think at first researching Malaysia, but I think that is a great fact to set them apart from other countries.

After researching the 'light' facts, I wanted to go onto something deeper, so I decided to research foreign policy and military. I found that their foreign policy is based upon the principle of neutrality and  maintaining peaceful relations with all countries, no matter their political system. A high priority to their government is the security and stability of Southeast Asia, and furthering relations with other countries in the region. My research then went on to say how Malaysia has never recognized Israel and has no diplomatic ties with it. Consistently throughout this research it was said how Malaysia takes pride in their peace keeping missions, and how it is present in Lebanon, and that they have contributed to many other UN peace keeping missions. For the military aspect, the Malaysian Armed forces have three branches; the Royal Malaysian Navy, the Malaysian Army, and the Royal Malaysian Air Force. The required age for  volunteering into the military is 18.

To relate this back to class and what we were just talking about, I can see how the culture in Malaysia would be much different than the United States. With all of the different religions and races in Malaysia you are bound to get different values and morals within people, which I feel is a big part of culture. A lot of people in Malaysia would have gotten brought up differently, therefore giving them a different outlook on life, playing into your own personal culture. I also feel that their military and foreign policy outlooks would play a big part in their culture as well. With them caring greatly about keeping peace, people in Malaysia could have a more peaceful outlook on life than other places.

With the research I have done, I like Malaysia's views on peace keeping and it seems that they are doing a fine job running things. I do not have any personal ties with Malaysia, so I cannot say how deeply this research affects me, but I can say I can have a better understanding when people talk about it now, which is much more than I could say before.