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.
Feminism in Malaysia
The history of feminist movement in Malaysia, its birth and the usage of the very term 'feminist' are contested. Unlike the history of the feminist movement in Britain and the United States for instance, the struggle for women's rights in Malaysia were not founded on women's right to vote. Like many other postcolonial countries during the fall of the British empire, all Malaysian citizens, both male and female, were granted the right to vote during the country's political independence in 1957.