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.
Time in Malaysia
Malaysian Standard Time (MST; , ) or Malaysian Time (MYT) is a standard time used in Malaysia. It is 8 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time and Coordinated Universal Time. The local mean time in Kuala Lumpur was originally . Peninsular Malaysia used this local mean time until 1 January 1901, when they changed to Singapore mean time . Between the end of the Second World War and the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, it was known as British Malayan Standard Time, which was hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time. At 2330 hrs local time of 31 December 1981, people in Peninsular Malaysia adjusted their clocks and watches ahead by 30 minutes to become 00:00 hours local time of 1 January 1982, to match the time in use in East Malaysia, which is . SGT (Singapore) as follow on the same until now.The Malaysian government declared that people in West Malaysia (Peninsular) would move their clocks ahead by 30 min to match the time in use in East Malaysia ( hrs an :00 ahead of Greenwich Mean Time) on 31 December 1981. However, many found this to be awkward, as most of the population (roughly 80%) live in Peninsular Malaysia rather than in East Malaysia (on Borneo). The time was switched on 1 January 1982 at 6:00 am (old time) to 6:30 am (new time).