r/malaysia • u/dcx • Jul 09 '19

Ends today (Thurs) at 2pm Cultural Exchange with r/Polska

Hi folks, the cultural exchange has just wrapped up. Thank you so much to users from both subreddits for participating and creating such interesting discussions together! :)

🇵🇱 Witamy w Malezji! / Selamat datang ke Malaysia! 🇲🇾

Welcome to the cultural exchange between r/Polska and r/Malaysia! The purpose of this event is to allow people from two different national communities to get and share knowledge about their respective cultures, daily life, history and curiosities. This exchange will run for two days from July 9th 8am CEST / 2pm GMT +8. General guidelines:

  • Poles should ask their questions about Malaysia here on this post in r/Malaysia;
  • Malaysians should ask their questions about Poland in this parallel thread on r/Polska;
  • English should be used in both threads;
  • The event will be moderated, following the general rules of Reddiquette. Be nice!

Guests posting questions here will receive Polish flair.

Moderators of r/Polska and r/Malaysia.

75 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

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5

u/benq86 Jul 10 '19

Hey good people of Malaysia:

  1. Can you recommend some good Malaysian music?

  2. What are there some essential history facts that I should know about? I know nothing about the history of your country, sorry.

Thanks!

2

u/Minerex Jul 11 '19

For Malaysian music - refer to this thread (it's quite recent). I've listed some of my favourite in there.

6

u/T-harzianum Jul 11 '19

Can't really answer you the first question since I am a boring person.

Regarding second question, let see...

  1. Hinduism and Buddhism used to be the main religion in this region before the arrival of Islam.

  2. Our country or part of it was colonised by 3 great powers subsequently, Portugese, Dutch and British.

  3. We was the largest tin producer during British colonial period but now the mineral has been mostly depleted.

  4. Malaya gained independence from UK diplomatically in 31st August 1957 and and we celebrate national day on this day annually.

  5. Malaysia was formed in 16th September 1963 after Malaya, Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak) and Singapore decided to come together. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you interpret it), Singapore left (or kicked out also depending on how you interpret it) 2 years later. Nevertheless, we still celebrate Malaysia Day on every 16th September.

  6. We have the only racial riot in 13 May 1969 (for now and hopefully it is kept that way) between Malay and Chinese. A dark spot in our modern history. One of the most impactful consequences is the introduction of New Economic Policies (NEP) which granted Malay more privilege in economic sectors.

  7. Communist Party Malaya officially disband in 1989 after striking a deal with government and almost all of the party members were "exiled" to Southern Thailand.

  8. Barisan National (BN) lost their first election since independence on 9th May 2018 to opposition alliance (now the ruling party).

That's all from me and hopefully I didn't miss out anything important.

9

u/Whasume Jul 09 '19

Not trying to offend anyone but i always wanted to ask: 1.How do you guys feel about living in a third world country 2. How important is islam in Malaysia? Does it influence the politics and society as much as Catholic Church in Poland?

21

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '19

  1. We are developing country for sure. I've never been to Poland but I have been to nearby Slovakia and Czech. I can proudly say that Kuala Lumpur is pretty much ahead of Bratislava or Praha, infrastructure better than Munchen or Vienna but sadly we are still in the 3rd world mentality in some parts of the country.

  2. Malaysia is secular and Islam is the official religion. However our Rukun Negara (National Principles) states that you must believe in God, loyal to the King, preserve the constitution, obey the law and be civil to each other; which we must memorize all 5 principles as Malaysian. Thus being a Catholic or practicing any religion is constitutionally protected by principles. They're racial issues but never any major religious incidents in Malaysia other than Islamic extremist to its own Muslims here. Im not Catholic but I've been to churches countless times for weddings/funeral of friends.

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18

u/[deleted] Jul 10 '19

1.How do you guys feel about living in a third world country

My mother doesn't have medical insurance or coverage, lately she suffered a minor heart attack coupled with other health compilations, the government hospital here took care of her and now she's improving pretty well (follow-ups, physio, medications)

All that costing at 20% of what I'd usually spend for lunch dining out.

14

u/pothkan Jul 10 '19

How do you guys feel about living in a third world country

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_Human_Development_Index

Malaysia: 0.802, similar to Romania or Bulgaria, not that far from us (0.865). It's definitely not a "third world" country.

12

u/icemountain87 Jul 10 '19

1.How do you guys feel about living in a third world country

We still have roads, electricity, clean water, etc. It's not that different from living in most other countries (in an urban context). There are some things we can do better but nothing cripplingly bad.

2. How important is islam in Malaysia? Does it influence the politics and society as much as Catholic Church in Poland?

Very important and influential especially in politics. Politicians always paint the picture that the non-Muslims are trying to take over the country and turn into a haven of sin and whores. It's effective in uniting the conservative voters under one banner.

13

u/Felinomancy Jul 10 '19

How do you guys feel about living in a third world country

O___O

Just because we're "Third World" doesn't mean we live on trees, shit in holes and eat our meats raw.

Personally, we could use more freedom (actual freedom, not the American version), but then again at least we're not living in a hellish landscape torn apart by civil wars and what have you.

How important is islam in Malaysia? Does it influence the politics and society as much as Catholic Church in Poland?

Officially, very important. "It's un-Islamic" is a powerful political bludgeon, although it's not omnipotent - I dare say it's as influential as race politics.

On a personal level of course it depends. It runs the gamut from people who wants to establish a Saudi-inspired theocracy, to those who are Muslim only in name. Some of the kinkiest people I came into contact with are hijabis.

7

u/redfournine Jul 10 '19

  1. Having lived in Japan for several years, and having traveled to lots of first world countries (mostly west EU), I can say it isn't so bad in Malaysia. There is inconveniences here and there when dealing with governments, but in general it's decent, and it is improving (albeit at a snail's pace). Politics is shit, but it is shit no matter which country you go to, it's just different flavor of shit. In the capital city of Kuala Lumpur (literally the only place in Malaysia that at least can be somewhat compared to first world country), people are generally less warm than in the rural area - but I get the same vibe even in Japan. That people in urban city is less warm compared to people in the rural area.

  2. Islam is the main religion in Malaysia. It does influence the politics and society a lot, but nothing severe that stopping you from practicing your own religion.