Basic information about Malaysia

Updated: 2004-03-21 14:34

Malaysia holds parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Malaysia was formed in 1963 through a federation of the former British colonies of Malaya and Singapore, include the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak on the northern coast of Borneo. But Singapore left in 1965.

Following is some basic information about Malaysia.

Location Population: 23,092,940 (July 2003), among them 58 percent are Malays and other indigenous, 24 percent are Chinese, eight percent are Indians.

Literacy Parliamentary elections: Parliament consists of the 69-member Senate (Dewan Negara) and the 193-seat House of Representatives ( Dewan Rakyat). Forty-three of Senators are appointed by the paramount ruler, and the rest 26 are appointed by the state legislatures. MPs are elected by popular vote weighted toward the rural Malay population to serve five-year terms.

Following legislative elections, the leader of the party that wins a plurality of seats in the House of Representatives becomes prime minister. Enditem 

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