Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei: The Rough Guide (Rough Guide Travel Guides) Book

INTRODUCTION At first glance there seems little to link Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, not even geographical proximity. It's almost two thousand kilometres from the Malay Peninsula, across the South China Sea, to the separate Malay state of Sabah at the northern tip of Borneo. And Bangkok is as close to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore as is the Bruneian capital Bandar Seri Begawan. But all three countries are born of a common history and ethnic composition that links the entire Malay archipelago, from Indonesia to the Philippines. Each became an important port of call on the trade route between India and China, the two great markets of the early world, and later formed the colonial lynchpins of the Portuguese, Dutch and British empires. However, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have only existed in their present form since 1963, when the federation of the eleven Peninsular states and the two Bornean territories of Sarawak and Sabah became known as Malaysia. Singapore, an original member of this union, left in 1965 to gain full independence, and Brunei, always content to maintain its own enclave in Borneo, lost its British colonial status in 1984. Since then, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have been united by their economic dominance of Southeast Asia. While the tiny Sultanate of Brunei is locked into a paternalistic regime, using its considerable wealth to guarantee its citizens an enviable standard of living, the city-state of Singapore has long been a model of free-market profiteering, transformed from a tiny port with no natural resources into one of the world's capitalist giants. Malaysia is the relative newcomer to the scene, publicly declaring itself well on the way to First World status in an ambitious manifesto, whose aim is to double the size of the economy and increase personal income four-fold by the year 2020, massively expanding tourism in the process. That Malaysia is taking giant steps towards realizing its ambitions is manifest in the fact that it has been awarded the 1998 Commonwealth Games. Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei do not have the grand, ancient ruins of neighbouring Thailand. However, their rich cultural heritage is apparent, with traditional architecture and crafts thriving in the rural kampung (village) areas, and on display in cultural centres and at exhibitions throughout the modern cities. The dominant cultural force in the region has undoubtedly been the Malay adoption of Islam in the fourteenth century, while in Singapore, Buddhism has held sway since its foundation. But it's the commitment to religious plurality - most markedly in Malaysia and Singapore - that is so attractive, often providing startling juxtapositions of mosques, temples and churches. What's more, the region's diverse population, a blend of indigenous Malays (bumiputras or "sons of the soil"), Chinese and Indians, has spawned a huge variety of annual festivals as well as a wonderful mixture of cuisines. As well as a rich cultural life, the region has astonishing natural beauty. With parts of Thailand starting to suffer from overexposure to tourism, it comes as a welcome surprise to discover Peninsular Malaysia's unspoiled east coast beaches, while both the Peninsula and the Bornean states have some of the world's oldest tropical rainforest. The national parks are superb for cave exploration, river-rafting and wildlife-watching, and provide challenging treks, including that to the peak of Southeast Asia's highest mountain, Mount Kinabalu in Sabah.Read More