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	Multi-ethnic Country, Malaysia
Guest Speaker: Mr. Sugandaran Kaivaliam

Geography
Malaysia mainly consist of a part of Malay peninsula and a part of Borneo island. The size of territory is almost the same as Japan.

Geographical Data of Malaysia

Territory	33 mil. m2
Population	23 mil.
Capital	Kuala Lumpur
Capital	Ringgit

Ethnic Groups in Malaysia
In Malaysia, there are one major ethnic group, "Malay", and two minor ethnic groups, "Chinese" and "Tamil".

Ethnic Groups in Malaysia

Name	Percentage	Religion
Malay	65 %	Muslim
Chinese	26 %	Buddhism
Tamil	7.7 %	Hinduism

Traditions
His last name "Kaivaliam" is his father's first name. This style is very common among Tamil and Malay.
The left picture shows Malaysian traditional costume. Men should wear a hat to pull their hair back because of Muslim rule.

History
People from China
Around 15th century, many people came to Malaysia from Guangdong region, China.

British Colonization
In 18th century, Britain invaded Malaysia and they made Malaysia a British colony. During this period, British brought many chinese people from mainland of China, because British needed manpower for tim mine.

Japanese Imperializm
During the World War II, Japanese army invaded Malaysia. At this time, they killed many Chinese people, because Japan and China was not in good relationship. Some Malay people welcomed Japanese army, because they had hated Chinese people for a long time.

NEP (New Economic Policy)
In 1971, New Economic Policy was established in Malaysia. This policy is called "Bumiputra Policy".
"Bumiputra" means the people whose ancester is originaly in Malaysia. In other words, "Bumiputra"means the largest ethnic group, "Malay".
"Bumiputra Policy" is the policy to give advantage to the majority people over other ethnic groups such as Chinese. For example, Malay people can buy home cheeper than Chinese do. Malay can buy shares on more proficable condition than that for Chinese. Malay can enter University easier than Chinese.

Why is such policy necessary at that time?
Generally speaking, Chinese are more diligent and paying more attention to their children's education.
Because of such tendency, the ecomomic level of Chinese has become much better than that of majority (Malay) people. To solve this situation, "Bumiputra Policy" is introduced.

This policy has played a certain level of role for equalization between Malay and Chinese. However, this policy is now causing new problem recently. It is a brain drain. Many chinese with excellent skills are going out from Malaysia to escape from such disadvantage. This is great loss for the country.

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