Malaysia is a serious economic player in the region, further along the development curve than most of its ASEAN neighbours yet still offering first-class investment opportunities to global companies.

It is a culturally and ethnically diverse nation. The Malays and other closely related ethnic groups comprise the majority of the country’s 32 million population; the Chinese is the next largest ethnicity, while the Indian community is estimated at 6-7%. Islam is the country’s official religion. The country’s official language is Malay or Bahasa Melayu, a standard form of the Malay language. English is widely spoken and remains an active second language; Mandarin and Tamil are the other languages. The country proudly presents itself as “Malaysia, truly Asia”.

Malaysia is one of Southeast Asia’s economic success stories. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by natural resources but has expanded to other sectors including tourism and manufacturing; it exports a significant amount of electrical appliances, parts, and components. Its infrastructure and extensive road networks is one of the best in the region, second only to Singapore. High literacy rate, a young, educated and diverse working population, makes its workforce attractive to potential investors. In 2020, it ranked 57th in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Perceptions Index (GCPI), making it the 3rd most transparent company in ASEAN. Malaysia also scores very well in ease of doing business, currently ranked 12th among 190 or so countries.