30 Interesting and Amazing Facts About Malaysia

Here are 30 Interesting and Amazing Facts About Malaysia 
from the 501 Amazing Facts About Malaysia Book



1. Malaysia is the only country that has land on both continental Asia and the Malay Archipelago.

2. Malaya was the only place in the world where the war against communism was won. The  12 year guerrilla warfare conducted by communist forces was finally putdown in 1960. This period was known as the Malayan emergency.

3. Famed singer Sudirman had the extraordinary ability to sing and sketch simultaneously.

4. Do you know that the KL Tower (421m) appears to be taller than the Petronas Towers? This is because it is built on top of a 94m hill.

5. According to a survey reported in 2010, Malaysians had the largest number of friends on Facebook, with an average of 233. The Japanese were the pickiest with only 29 friends.

6. The Sultanate of Kedah is one of the oldest in the world (1136).

7. The oil palm produces the highest yield of oil per hectare compared to other vegetable oils. It is the most consumed and the cheapest edible oil in the world.

8. Pomelo is the largest citrus fruit in the world.  It can reach the size of a small football and weighs anywhere from 1-3 kg.

9. The Perak Man  is the oldest (about 11,000 years) and the only complete human skeleton to be found in Peninsular Malaysia.

10. Some buildings in Malaysia have no 4th floor.  They are replaced by ‘3A’ as the sound of four is similar to the sound of death in Chinese (si).

11. The Boh in Boh tea stands for ‘Best of Highlands’.

12. Petronas is the only Malaysian company in the Fortune Global 500 (Fortune magazine’s list of 500's largest corporations in the world).

13. By using the Malacca Strait instead of the Lombok Strait in Indonesia, ships save about 1,600km or 3 days.

14 Malaysia has its own Lochness Monster at Tasik Chini. The Jakun Orang Asli believe that a dragon called the Naga Seri Gumum inhabits the lake.

15. Malaysia produces the best quality (lightweight, low sulphur) and the most expensive crude oil in the world.  It is called ‘Malaysian Tapis Blend 44°’.

16. Malaysia has 9 distinct reigning royal families, the highest in the world.

17. Penang is one of the few places in Malaysia where you can still find its streets having colonial names.

18. There are 878 islands in Malaysia. Sabah has the most at 394.

19. Do you know that there are elephant crossing road signs along the East-West Highway?

20. The biggest roundabout in the world is located at Putrajaya.  It is 3.5km in diameter.

21. Bario in Sarawak’s Kelabit Highlands is the most isolated settlement in Malaysia. There are no roads available in this remote corner. Everything has to be transported by air!

22. You can experience primeval rainforest in the heart of Kuala Lumpur city at the Bukit Nanas Rainforest Reserve.  Covering only 10.5ha, Bukit Nanas is among the smallest rainforest patches in the world.

23. Durian, the king of fruits draws passionate reactions.  Most people either hate it or adore it.   ”It smells like hell and tastes like heaven".

24. In Malaysia, a heart bypass surgery can be done at approximately US$9,000.  The same would cost around US$130,000 in the United States.

25. Masjid Jamek is the only place in downtown Kuala Lumpur where you can still find coconut trees.

26. How big is Taman Negara, the largest National Park in Malaysia?  With an area of 4,343 sq km, it is seven times the size of Singapore.

27. Can you believe it, there is no Mcdonald’s Restaurant in Perlis?

28. Malaysia's iconic orang utans have unusually long arms. They are about one and a half times longer than their legs.

29. The tropical rainforests of Malaysia are the mother of all rainforests. At 130 million years, they are even older than the tropical forests of the Amazon and Congo Basins

30. Malaysia located in the heart of Southeast Asia, offers the best of the East and the West.