Malaysia consists of a peninsula, which makes up the southernmost portion of the landmass of Southeast Asia, and the northern quarter of the island of Borneo, apart from Brunei. It extends south nearly to the equator, and the climate is tropical. Its closest neighbors are Singapore and Indonesia to the south and Thailand to the north. The Straits of Malacca, which connect the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, constitute Malaysia's most important geographical feature.

The Straits have long been a strategically important and commercially valuable waterway and have attracted traders, settlers, and colonists and have contributed to Malaysia's multiethnic population. With approximately 25 million citizens in 2005, Malaysia's ethnic composition is 65.1 percent Malays (the dominant ethnic group) and other indigenous peoples, 26 percent Chinese, 7.7 percent Indians, and 1.2 percent other ethnic backgrounds, according to its national census.

Language and education issues have been divisive in the past but are no...