MALAYSIAlonelyplanet.com MALAYSIA DIRECTORY •• Internet Access
Chinese New Year is the most important
celebration for the Chinese community and
is marked with dragon dances and street
parades. The major holiday of the Muslim
calendar, Hari Raya Puasa marks the end
of the month-long fast of Ramadan with
three days of joyful celebration. During
Hari Raya Puasa and Chinese New Year, ac-
commodation may be difficult to obtain. At
these times, many businesses may also be
closed and transport can be fully booked.
In addition to national public holidays,
each state has its own holidays, usually
associated with the sultan’s birthday or a
Muslim celebration.
National holidays:
New Year’s Day 1 January
Chinese New Year January/February
Birth of the Prophet March
Wesak Day April/May
Labour Day 1 May
Agong’s (King’s) Birthday 1st Saturday in June
National Day 31 August
Hari Raya Puasa September/October
Deepavali November
Hari Raya Haji December
Awal Muharam December
Christmas Day 25 December
INTERNET ACCESS
Internet access is widespread and available at
numerous internet cafes, backpacker hang-
outs and shopping malls, generally on fast
broadband connections. In cities, rates range
from RM2 to RM4 per hour; on islands and
in remote areas, rates skyrocket (and speed
plummets) to around RM6 to RM10 per hour.
Wi-fi is easily found in cities, sparingly in
medium-sized towns and often not at all in
the countryside.
INTERNET RESOURCES
Lonely Planet (lonelyplanet.com) Succinct summaries
on travelling to Southeast Asia, and the Thorn Tree bulletin
board; plus the Travel Links site for other useful travel
resources.
Malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com) Find out what’s
really going on in the country at Malaysia’s best online
news site.
Tourism Malaysia (www.tourismmalaysia.gov.my) The
official government site for tourist information has events
calendars, regional links, background information and
listings of domestic and international tourist offices.
LEGAL MATTERS
In any of your dealings with the local police it
pays to be deferential. Minor misdemeanours
may be overlooked, but don’t count on it and
don’t offer anyone a bribe.
It’s simply not worth having anything
to do with drugs in Malaysia: drug traf-
ficking carries a mandatory death penalty,
and even the possession of tiny amounts of
drugs for personal use can bring about a
lengthy jail sentence and a beating with the
rotan (cane).MAPS
Periplus (https://peripluspublishinggroup.com) has maps
covering Malaysia, Peninsular Malaysia and
KL. Tourism Malaysia’s free Map of Malaysia
has useful distance charts, facts about the
country and inset maps of many of the
major cities.
For accurate maps of rural areas contact
the National Sur vey & Mapping Department (Map
pp440-1 ; Ibu Pejabat Ukur & Pemetaan Malaysia; %03-
2617 0800; http://www.jupem.gov.my; Jln Semarak, Kuala Lumpur;(^) h7.30am-5.30pm Mon-Fri).
MEDIA
The government tightly controls the main
media outlets, and will often pursue its crit-
ics through the courts. The main newspapers
tend to parrot the official line and the less
said about news on Malaysian TV channels,
the better.Newspapers
Malaysia has newspapers in English, Malay,
Chinese and Tamil. The New Straits Times is
the main English-language publication, while
Borneo Post focuses more on issues relevant
to Sabah and Sarawak. Foreign magazines are
widely available.Radio
There’s a variety of radio stations in Malaysia
broadcasting in Bahasa Malaysia, English and
various Chinese and Indian languages and
dialects. The number of English stations is
highest around KL, while radio-wave pickings
are scarce in Malaysian Borneo.TV
Malaysia has two government TV channels
(RTM 1 and 2) and two commercial stations.
Programs range from local productions in
various languages to Western imports.529