Malaysians one of the most multi-racial societies in the world. Within this small country are people who trace their ancestry to distant foreign lands, most of whom immigrated here in the 19th and early 20th century to join the indigenous tribes of the country. Today they are all recognised as Malaysians. Although each community continues to practise their own culture, speak their own languages, observe their festivals, follow their respective religions, they count themselves as Malaysians. Let me introduce you to the various races.
The Bumiputra forms the majority in Malaysia. They are the people indigenous to the country. I place them in four groups:
Malay The Malay forms the majority of the Bumiputras. They are the main group in Peninsular Malaysia, and also form a substantial percentage of the Bumiputras in Sabah and Sarawak.
Orang Asli The Orang Asli are the natives or "aborigines" who live in the hinterland of Malaysia. They fall under three main subgroups:
Negrito (Semang) This subgroup of the Orang Asli live mostly on the northern part of Peninsular Malaysia. They are further subdivided into the following tribes.
The Chinese forms the second biggest group of Malaysians, or rather the biggest group of non-Bumiputras. They comprise several dialect groups depending on where they originated. Most Chinese in Malaysia came from the Fujian and Guangdong provinces in southern China.
Cantonese The Cantonese live mostly in the tin-mining belt, from Ipoh down to Kuala Lumpur.
Hainanese Originating from Hainan, this dialect group forms pockets in Kemaman, Pulau Ketam, Penang and Johor Bahru.
Hakka Dialect group known as the "Khek" or "guest people" by the other dialect groups.
Hokkien One of the earliest groups to settle in the Peninsular, the most numerous, and the base dialect group for the Peranakan Chinese.
Fuzhou Originating in Fuzhou in Fujian Province, found mostly in Sibu in Sarawak.
Teochew Dialect group that settled on mainland Penang and Pontian district, Johor.
Mandarin More a language than a dialect group, but is said to be based on the spoken language of Beijing.
Straits-born people, in reference to those who trace their ancestry to a distant homeland, but have created a unique distinctive culture of their own within this country.
Baba Nyonya Chinese Peranakan community who practise a fusion of Chinese (predominantly Hokkien) and Malay culture.
Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?
The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!
Flying somewhere? Say you're going to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Penang or Kuching to Singapore, which airline gives you the best rate for the date and time of your trip? Instead of visiting each airline website one by one, use our Flight Checker on the right to find out.
Just enter you trip details: where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.
Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.
Exploring Malaysia is researched and written by Timothy Tye. Content and articles in Exploring Malaysia are provided in goodwill and are believed to be correct at time of writing. While every reasonable care is taken to check and verify the information shared, Exploring Malaysia disclaims responsibility for its use. All pages may be printed out for your own personal, non-commercial use. Photographs appearing in Exploring Malaysia are available according to the licensing terms specified in its caption. Photographs not credited to a third party belong to Timothy Tye and may not be reused in any form unless you are first given permission. Write in to inquire if interested. Third party photographs are governed by their respective licenses.
