Brunei and Malaysias culture Identification.

Brunei Darussalam is a multiethnic society in which one ethnic group, the Barunay, has a monopoly of political power. Variations in tradition among other ethnic groups are not regional but cultural, social, and linguistic. Indigenous Muslims usually are referred to as Brunei Malays even if they are not native speakers of the Malay language. Speculations about the etymology include derivations from the Malay ( baru nah ("there!"), a Sanskrit form, and the Kelabit name for the Limbang River. Location and Geography. The original home of Brunei culture is the area around the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan. Settlements of Barunay and Kadayan also are found along the coasts of northern Sarawak and southwestern Sabah in Malaysia; Tutong and Belait settlements are found exclusively in Brunei. Bisaya, Iban, and Penan people also live in Sarawak and Dusun and Murut people in both Sarawak and Sabah. Brunei Darussalam is 2,226 square miles (5,763 square kilometers), with a coastline of about 100 miles (161 kilometers) on the South China Sea coast of northwestern Borneo and along the western shores of the southernmost portion of Brunei Bay. Brunei is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The climate is equatorial with high temperatures, high humidity, and heavy rainfall, although there is no distinct wet season. The country is divided into three contiguous administrative districts Brunei-Muara, Tutong, and Belaitwith a fourth, Temburong, separated by the Limbang Valley of Sarawak. The names of the districts derive from their main rivers. Approximately 75 percent of the country is forested, although the exportation of whole logs has been banned. The country is covered with a wide range of mangrove, heath, peat swamp, mixed dipterocarp, and montane forests. There are numerous rivers, whose broad valleys contain most of the country's settlements. The southern portion of Temburong is mountainous and sparsely populated. Demography. The 1998 population estimate was 323,600. Malays constitute about 67 percent of the total; Chinese, 15 percent; other indigenous peoples (Iban, Dayak, and Kelabit, all mainly from Sarawak), 6 percent, and others, 12 percent. In the late 1980s, 24,500 immigrants worked primarily in the petroleum industry. The population has increased more than twelve-fold since the first decade of the twentieth century. The distribution of population is Brunei-Muara, 66 percent; Belait, 20 percent; Tutong, 11 percent; and Temburong, 3 percent. Linguistic Affiliation. Malay is the official language, but English is widely used in commerce. The Brunei dialect of Malay has many unique lexical items and a distinctive syntax. Malay is in the Western MalayoPolynesian subgroup of the Austronesian language family, which also includes the other languages spoken in Brunei. Various Chinese languages, English, and Philippine and mainland south Asian languages are spoken by guest workers. Many individuals are multilingual. Symbolism. The national flag is a yellow field of two trapeziums with a white diagonal parallelogram stripe above a black diagonal parallelogram stripe, representing the offices of the first vizier (a Muslim official), the Pengiran Bendahara, and the third vizier, the Pengiran Pamancha. These were the only

vizier offices occupied in 1906, when the first British resident took up occupancy. The flag is emblazoned in the center by the state crest in

Brunei Darussalam red, which was added in 1959. The crest is composed of a flag and royal umbrella; four feathers symbolizing the protection of justice, tranquillity, prosperity, and peace; two hands representing the government's pledge to promote welfare, peace, and prosperity; and a crescent symbolizing Islam and inscribed in Arabic "Always in service with God's guidance"; with a scroll inscribed in Arabic letters, Brunei Darussalam ("Brunei the Abode of Peace"). Read more: Culture of Brunei Darussalam - history, people, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social http://www.everyculture.com/Bo-Co/Brunei-Darussalam.html#ixzz1VyyTlGeM Identification. Within Malaysian society there is a Malay culture, a Chinese culture, an Indian culture, a Eurasian culture, along with the cultures of the indigenous groups of the peninsula and north Borneo. A unified Malaysian culture is something only emerging in the country. The important social distinction in the emergent national culture is between Malay and non-Malay, represented by two groups: the Malay elite that dominates the country's politics, and the largely Chinese middle class whose prosperous lifestyle leads Malaysia's shift to a consumer society. The two groups mostly live in the urban areas of the Malay Peninsula's west coast, and their sometimes competing, sometimes parallel influences shape the shared life of Malaysia's citizens. Sarawak and Sabah, the two Malaysian states located in north Borneo, tend to be less a influential part of the national culture, and their vibrant local cultures are shrouded by the bigger, wealthier peninsular society. Location and Geography. Malaysia is physically split between west and east, parts united into one country in 1963. Western Malaysia is on the southern tip of the Malay peninsula, and stretches from the Thai border to the island of Singapore. Eastern Malaysia includes the territories of Sabah and Sarawak on the north end of Borneo, separated by the country of Brunei. Peninsular Malaysia is divided into west and east by a central mountain range called the Banjaran Titiwangsa. Most large cities, heavy industry, and immigrant groups are concentrated on the west coast; the east coast is less populated, more agrarian, and demographically more Malay. The federal capital is in the old tinmining center of Kuala Lumpur, located in the middle of the western immigrant belt, but its move to the new Kuala Lumpur suburb of Putra Jaya will soon be complete. Demography. Malaysia's population comprises twenty-three million people, and throughout its history the territory has been sparsely populated relative to its land area. The government aims for increasing the national population to seventy million by the year 2100. Eighty percent of the population lives on the peninsula. The most important Malaysian demographic statistics are of ethnicity: 60 percent are classified as Malay, 25 percent as of Chinese descent, 10 percent of Indian descent, and 5 percent as others. These population figures have an important place in peninsular history, because Malaysia as a country was created with demography in mind. Malay leaders in the 1930s and 1940s organized their

community around the issue of curbing immigration. After independence, Malaysia was created when the Borneo territories with their substantial indigenous populations were added to Malaya as a means of exceeding the great number of Chinese and Indians in the country. Linguistic Affiliation. Malay became Malaysia's sole national language in 1967 and has been institutionalized with a modest degree of success. The Austronesian language has an illustrious history as a lingua franca throughout the region, though English is also widely spoken because it was the administrative language of the British colonizers. Along with Malay and English other languages are popular: many Chinese Malaysians speak some combination of Cantonese, Hokkien, and/or Mandarin; most Indian Malaysians speak Tamil; and

Malaysia numerous languages flourish among aboriginal groups in the peninsula, especially in Sarawak and Sabah. The Malaysian government acknowledges this multilingualism through such things as television news broadcasts in Malay, English, Mandarin, and Tamil. Given their country's linguistic heterogeneity, Malaysians are adept at learning languages, and knowing multiple languages is commonplace. Rapid industrialization has sustained the importance of English and solidified it as the language of business. Symbolism. The selection of official cultural symbols is a source of tension. In such a diverse society, any national emblem risks privileging one group over another. For example, the king is the symbol of the state, as well as a sign of Malay political hegemony. Since ethnic diversity rules out the use of kin or blood metaphors to stand for Malaysia, the society often emphasizes natural symbols, including the sea turtle, the hibiscus flower, and the orangutan. The country's economic products and infrastructure also provide national logos for Malaysia; the national car (Proton), Malaysia Airlines, and the Petronas Towers (the world's tallest buildings) have all come to symbolize modern Malaysia. The government slogan "Malaysia Boleh!" (Malaysia Can!) is meant to encourage even greater accomplishments. A more humble, informal symbol for society is a salad called rojak, a favorite Malaysian snack, whose eclectic mix of ingredients evokes the population's diversity.

Read more: Culture of Malaysia - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family http://www.everyculture.com/Ja-Ma/Malaysia.html#ixzz1VyzZP7R4