Intro to Malaysia
Subdivisions
Malaysia is comprised of 13 states:
- Johor JHR
- Kedah KDH
- Kelantan KTN
- Malacca MLK
- Negeri Sembilan NSN
- Pahang PHG
- Penang PNG
- Perak PRK
- Perlis PLS
- Sabah SBH
- Sarawak SWK
- Selangor SGR
- Terengganu TRG
and 3 Federal Territories:
- Kuala Lumpur KUL
- Labuan LBN
- Putrajaya PJY
The continental part on the malay penisula is reffered to as Peninsular Malaysia, while the part on Borneo island is reffered to as either East Malaysia or Malaysian Borneo.
Roads, Markings, and Signage
road signs
Road numbers appear on signposts as well as on kilometer posts. Kilometers posts also tell you the next city on this road.
road types
There are 3 types of roads :
- Expressways E.
- Federal roads with just a simple number.
- Regional roads with a letter then a number.
Expressways E
Most of them are in Selangor region, around Kuala Lumpur, there are also a few in Johor near Singapore. Only 3 exceptions : E1, E2 and E8.
Federal roads
Roads with a simple number are federal roads, there are very few of them on Malaysian Borneo : only roads 1,13, 22 and 5xx. But roads 1 and 13 are not unique, there is also a 1 and a 13 in Peninsular Malaysia.
Regional roads
Regional roads start with a letter. Each state has its own letter, but both Perlis and Sabah use the letter R.
road sign metas
- The state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo has specific signs with the JKR logo indicating street names (street = Jalan, abbreviated JLN).
- Usually, signposts on Peninsular Malaysia will specify the road numbers, while signposts on Malaysian Borneo do not.
- You will almost never see bollards on Malaysian Borneo.
Phone Codes
Landlines have a 3 digit area code ranging from 030 to 099. 01 is for cell phone numbers, 02 is for Singapore.
TODO : map of area codes
Electric poles
In Peninsular Malaysia, most of the poles have a black square with white letters. Those do not exist on Malaysian Borneo.
In Malaysian Borneo, some of the electric poles have a double poles and some major discs on the wires.
Architecture
Language
Malaysians speak Standard Malay. It is also possible to find some english here and there.
- Stansdard Malay (Latin)
- English (Latin)
Samples
Standard Malay
Semua manusia dilahirkan bebas dan sama dalam martabat dan hak. Mereka dikurniakan akal dan hati nurani dan harus bertindak antara satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.
English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Most Similar
Indonesia
Indonesia and Malaysia share :
- the same religion (islam)
- similar languages, since Indonesian and Standard Malay are both malay languages.
- similar landscapes : tropical.
Even though they look alike, there are many ways to tell the difference, here are some easy ones :
- the currency in Malaysia is RM (Ringgit Malaysia) while in indonesia they use RP (Rupiah)
- the flags, malaysian flag looks like the US flag while the indonesian flag is just red and white.
- Indonesia doesnt have road numbers.
- Indonesia stop sign is written STOP while Malaysia stop sign is written Berhenti.
- Malaysia uses road signs written AWAS for signaling a danger.
- Indonesia has advertising for cigarettes everywhere, they mention the danger of smoking with a sentence starting with "PERINGATAN : MEROKOK ".