East Malaysia

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East Malaysia

East Malaysia consists of the Malaysian

Malaysia

Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
states of Sabah

Sabah

Sabah is a Malaysian States of Malaysia located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo . It is the second largest state in Malaysia after Sarawak, which it borders on its south-west....
and Sarawak

Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , it is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia; the second largest, Sabah, lies to the northeast....
, located on the island of Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the List of islands by area and is located at the centre of Maritime Southeast Asia. Administratively, this island is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei....
to the east, across the South China Sea

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of China,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,...
from Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia , also known as Malaya or West Malaysia, is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula, and shares a land border with Thailand in the north....
(West Malaysia) which is located on the Malay Peninsula

Malay Peninsula

The Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia. It is also known as the Kra Peninsula and runs approximately north-south through the Kra Isthmus....
. While East Malaysia is less populated and relatively less developed than West Malaysia, its land mass is larger and it has notably more natural resources, which are chiefly oil and gas reserves.

Of note, Sarawak contains the Mulu caves within Gunung Mulu National Park

Gunung Mulu National Park

Gunung Mulu National Park near Miri, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses incredible caves and Karst topography in a mountainous equatorial rainforest setting....
; among these is the limestone cave with the largest chamber in the world, the Sarawak Chamber

Sarawak chamber

The Sarawak Chamber is a huge chamber in Gua Nasib Bagus , which is located in Gunung Mulu National Park, in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo....
.

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Encyclopedia

East Malaysia consists of the Malaysian

Malaysia

Sabah

Sarawak

Borneo

South China Sea

The South China Sea is a marginal sea*south of China,*west of the Philippines,*north west of Sabah , Sarawak and Brunei,*north of Indonesia,...
from Peninsular Malaysia

Peninsular Malaysia

Malay Peninsula

Gunung Mulu National Park

Sarawak chamber

The Sarawak Chamber is a huge chamber in Gua Nasib Bagus , which is located in Gunung Mulu National Park, in the Malaysian state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo....
. The Mulu national park was declared a World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
in 2001.

Sabah's many attractions include the World Heritage Site

World Heritage Site

Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain in Southeast Asia. It is located in Kinabalu National Park in the east Malaysian state of Sabah, which is on the island of Borneo in the tropics....
, and Sipadan island

Sipadan

Sipadan is the only island in Malaysia, rising 2,000 feet or 600m from the seabed. It is located in the Celebes Sea east of the major town of Tawau and off the coast of East Malaysia on the Island of Borneo....
of which is a world renowned diving hotspot.

The indigenous inhabitants of East Malaysia are fiercely partisan and maintain culturally distinct dialects of the national language, Malay

Malay language

The Malay language is an Austronesian languages spoken by the Malays and people of other ethnic groups who reside in Peninsular Malaysia, southern Thailand, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau Islands and parts of the coast of Borneo....
, in addition to their own ethnic languages.

Federation

Both Sabah (formerly British North Borneo) and Sarawak were separate British colonies

Crown colony

A Crown colony was a type of colonial administration of the British Empire.Crown colonies were ruled by a governor appointed by The Crown . Though the term was not used at the time, the first of what would later become known as Crown colonies was the Colony of Virginia in the present-day United States, after the Crown took control from the...
from Malaya

British Malaya

British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula that were colonized by the United Kingdom from the 18th and the 19th until the 20th century....
, and did not become part of the Federation of Malaya

Federation of Malaya

The Federation of Malaya , is the name given to a federation of 11 states that existed from 31 January 1948 until 16 September 1963. Comprising the nine Malay states and the United Kingdom Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca, it was eventually superseded by Malaysia....
in 1957. However, both voted to become part of the new Federation of Malaysia

Malaysia

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country microstate located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometres north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands....
, which was expelled from the federation in 1965. Previously, there were efforts to unite Brunei

Brunei

Brunei Darussalam, officially the State of Brunei, Abode of Peace , is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo, in Southeast Asia....
, Sabah and Sarawak under North Borneo Federation

North Borneo Federation

The North Borneo Federation was a proposed political entity which would have comprised the British Empire of Sarawak, British North Borneo and the protectorate of Brunei....
but that failed after the Brunei Revolt

Brunei Revolt

The Brunei Revolt broke out on December 8, 1962 and was led by Yassin Affandi and his armed rebels. The rebels began co-ordinated attacks on the oil town of Seria, targeting the Royal Dutch Shell oil installations and attacks on police stations and government facilities around the protectorate....
occurred.

As states of the Federation, Sabah and Sarawak retained a higher degree of local government and legislative autonomy when compared to other states in West Malaysia. For example, both states have separate immigration controls, requiring Malaysian citizens from West Malaysia to carry passports or identity cards when visiting East Malaysia.

The island of Labuan

Labuan

Labuan is the main island of the Malaysian Federal Territory of Labuan. Labuan is best known as an Offshore Financial Centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as a tourist destination for nearby Bruneians and scuba diving....
was part of Sabah until 1984, when it was annexed into a separate Federal Territory, administered by the federal government. It was used to establish a centre for offshore finance

Offshore financial centre

An offshore financial centre , although not precisely defined, is usually a low-tax, lightly regulated jurisdiction which specializes in providing the corporate and commercial infrastructure to facilitate the use of that jurisdiction for the formation of offshore company and for the investment of offshore funds....
, with its own separate tax system and customs.

External links

- The Official Portal of the Ministry of Tourism, Malaysia