Nation lies on the Malay Peninsula, and also includes Sabah and Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
Much of nation covered by forest, with a mountain range running the length of the peninsula (TIME Almanac 2004 814).
Total area slightly larger than New Mexico
Tropical climate, annual monsoons: southwest, April to October, northeast, October to February (CIA country report online)
Arable land, 5.54%, permanent crops 17.61@, other 76.85%
Environmental issues: air pollution from industrial and volcanic emissions, water pollution from raw sewage, deforestation, smoke/haze.
Strategic location- along Strait of Malacca and southern South China Sea.
Malay peninsula: rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah: subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice, rubber, pepper lumber, Sarawak: rubber, pepper, timber.
Malay peninsula industries: rubber and palm oil processing and manufacturing, light manufacturing industry, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging and processing timber; Sarawak: petroleum production and refining (TIME Almanac 2004 814).
CIA Country report calls it a "middle-income country.
Transformed itself, beginning in 1971, from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy.
Growth almost exclusively driven by exports- particularly electronics.
Hard hit by worldwide IT slump in 2001. Rebounded nicely in 2002.
Recent exports total approximately $97.9 billion (TIME)
Labor force: 9.7 million (out of 22 million population)
Manufacturing exports now 90& of merchandise exports (matrade online 2004 1).
Hi-tech exports 59% of manufactured export totals.
Readily available employees: "There werea.more hirings in the last quarter of 2003aregistering a 20% increase from the preceding quarter" (Hamid 2004 1).
Manufacturing sector continues to be aggressive in hiring.
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