The name “Malaysia” came to be in 1963 when the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (now called Sabah) and Sarawak (the largest state) joined up to make 14 states in all. Various names were considered at the time including Langkasuka which was one of the historical names for part of the land mass of Malaysia.
The Portuguese took over the port of Malacca in the year 1511, which lies on the east coast of Malaysia. However with continual conflict between them and the Sultanate of Aceh and the Sultanate of Johor they relinquished control to the Dutch in 1641 after the Dutch sided with the Sultanate of Johor against them.
Jumping forward in time, in 1963 the Federation of Malaysia came about. Initially the Sultanate of Brunei had wished also to join the Federation but due to pressure from some members of their population and some other issues to do with oil payments, they pulled out of the agreement.
Troubles continued in the early years of the Federation and independence. President Sukarno of Indonesia tried to lay claim to Sarawak, but this “undeclared war” was quelled by the British. Then in 1965, just 2 years after the formation, Singapore pulled out due to some disagreements.
Then the Philippines laid a claim for the state of Sabah, although up till now this claim has not been recognized. Further problems have continued to vent due to the multi racial population of Malaysia.
The Chinese people of the country feel that the government favors the Malays too much at the expense of all other races and they are not slow to show their feelings either.
Malaysia is by land mass the 66th largest country in the world being 320,000 km square, which is a similar size to Vietnam, New Mexico and Norway. Total population is 28 million which makes it the 43rd most populated country in the world which is similar to Venezuela and Saudi Arabia.
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