Culture of Malaysia
Malaysia consists of two distinct geographical regions: Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. Malaysia was formed when the Federation of Malaya merged with North Borneo (today the province of Sabah), Sarawak, and Singapore (seceded 1965) in 1963, and cultural differences between Peninsular and East Malaysia remain. During the formation of Malaysia, executive power was vested in the Perikatan (later the Barisan Nasional) coalition of three racially based political parties, namely the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC). UMNO has dominated the coalition from its inception. Although Islam is the official state religion, the Constitution of Malaysia guarantees freedom of religion.
Elite Forces of Malaysia
As a new nation, Federation of Malaya is heavily relied to the Commonwealth of Nations for military assistance. The Malayan Emergency is reaching its end and Malayan Armed Forces begin to expand its strength. In 1963, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore join the federation, thus Malaysia was formed. This unity displeased Sukarno, the first President of Indonesia and also pro-communist, and he accused Malaysia is a new form of colonisation by the British. Sukarno launch a military campaign towards Malaysia and the Commonwealth nations quickly offers military assistance to Malaysia. The confrontation by the Indonesia lasts from January 1962 to August 1966. From here, the Malaysian government realised the needs of specially trained elite forces in the military arsenals. Malaysian Special Service Unit (MSSU; now known as "Grup Gerak Khas" – GGK) was established during the confrontation. After the confrontation, second emergency occurs, thus more elite units was established to meet the demands.