Many civilizations have long flourished on the Malay archipelago long before colonial powers became interested in Malaya in the 16^th century. Britain colonized the peninsular in her efforts to exploit rubber and other natural resources and controlled all the Malay states by the early 1900's. The World War II which resulted in the country being occupied by the Japanese set the stage for the eventual independence of the Federation of Malaya in August 31, 1957.  The British Borneo (comprising Sabah and Sarawak) and Singapore gained their independence and joined the federation to form  Malaysia in 1963. Singapore, however, left the Federation in 1965.

Malaysia is a member of the Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) with a population of 26.13 million (2005 estimate). At the time of her independence from Britain, Malaysia inherited an economy dominated by two commodities--rubber and tin. In the 40 years thereafter, Malaysia's economic record had been one of Asia's best. From the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, the economy experienced a period of broad diversification and sustained rapid growth averaging almost 8% annually. By 2004, the per capita GDP had reached $4528. New foreign and domestic investment played a significant role in the transformation of Malaysia's economy. Manufacturing grew from 13.9% of GDP in 1970 to 31% in 2004, while agriculture and mining, which together had accounted for 42.7% of GDP in 1970, dropped to 9.5% and 12.6%, respectively, in 2004. Major products include electronic components, electrical goods, and appliances.

The country's market-oriented economy (with a strong emphasis on knowledge or k-economy), supportive government policies and a large local business community that is ready to do business with international corporations have made Malaysia a highly competitive manufacturing and export base. In 2004, the country was ranked by Institute for Management Development as the fifth most competitive country in the world (for countries with a population of greater than 20 million), ahead of countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, Japan and Mainland China. The remarkable performance of the country's economy over the years has been attributed to the country’s political stability, the sound financial and economic policies adopted by the government, and the efficient management of its natural resources which include oil and gas.

As the country entered the 21^st Century it continued to concentrate on growing the high-technology sector by sponsoring ambitious technology pilot projects, such as the Multi-media Super Corridor (MSC) which launched seven flagship applications aimed at transforming the country into a knowledge base and paperless government and society.

Today, utilizing its diverse resource base (energy, raw materials, manufactured goods and information technology products) and coupled with healthy foreign exchange reserves and relatively small external debt, Malaysia continues its economic success via the promotion of both domestic and foreign based growth engines to help Malaysia achieve its goal of becoming a fully "developed" nation by the year 2020.

Malaysia is now recognized as a role model of a successful and most developed Islamic nation. This success has been attributed to a development model based on private sector led growth, with social equity.

More information on Malaysia can be found in the following links:

Tourism:

www.tourism.gov.my/corp/default.asp

www.geographia.com/malaysia/

Business:

www.mida.gov.my/beta/

www.matrade.gov.my/

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