Malaysia, Truly Asia

The Lawas River flowing through town of Lawas, Sarawak

This is my first visit to Malaysia, save one brief change of planes at the Kuala Lumpur airport several years ago. Although few nations escape the mark of their geography, Malaysia is especially influenced and formed by the shapes of its landmasses. West Malaysia, by far the most populous part, stretches down the narrow Malay Peninsula from the northern border with Thailand to the southern straits facing Singapore. West Malaysia is dominated by ethnic Malays, the vast majority of whom are Muslims. As in most of Southeast Asia, a sizable Chinese minority exerts influence far beyond its proportionate numeric strength. South Indians, especially Tamils, also compose a significant minority.

East Malaysia is another world, sitting a few hundred miles across the South China Sea and stretching across the northern third of the island of Borneo. The two Malaysian states on Borneo – Sabah and Sarawak – are geographically Malaysia’s largest by far, yet they are also the most sparsely populated, with a combined population of 6 million, compared to 21 million in Peninsular Malaysia. Most of the cities of this part of Malaysia – Kuching, Miri, and Kota Kinabalu – sit near the sea on the north coast. The interior is an increasingly hilly and mountainous rain forest stretching across the island toward the border with the Indonesian region of Kalimantan, which covers the southern half of the island of Borneo. Although Malays and Chinese compose an important part of the population of East Malaysia, the region is also home to several dozen indigenous tribes, the majority of whom are Christian, as are many of the Chinese of East Malaysia.

There was a jingle that ran on television in various places in the past that extolled Malaysia as a tourist destination that was “truly Asia.” While I’m generally averse to any claim to be more “truly” anything than anywhere or anyone else, I could not help but find this description compelling today as a small propeller plan skimmed over dense rainforest, palm oil plantations, and wide, muddy rivers wandering their way down from mountains to the sea in preparation for landing at Lawas, in the far eastern reaches of Sarawak. Lawas is a town of about 30,000 sitting on a river just a few miles inland from the sea. It is cut off from much of the rest of Sarawak by the Sultanate of Brunei, a tiny, hyper-wealthy enclave that by accidents of British colonialism remains a separate country.

Surprisingly to me, entering Sabah or Sarawak from Peninsular Malaysia requires a passage through passport control. My passport was stamped both in the KL airport and in the airport in Miri, Sarawak. This is part of a special “20 point agreement” reached between the former British colonies of Malaya (now West Malaysia) and Sabah and Sarawak in the 1960s. It is designed, in part, to prevent mass migration from the Peninsula to the more sparsely settled East. In reality, I am told that some of these distinctions are breaking down today, although both states retain a much higher degree of autonomy than their counterparts on the peninsula.

Is Malaysia “truly Asia,” whatever that means? Perhaps. But it is difficult to escape the beauty of Lawas – the tropical afternoon downpours, misty clouds rolling down the mountains, the deep, muddy river swimming with crocodiles and boat taxis. It is a world away from the bustle of Bangkok, Manila, Chennai, or Delhi. It certainly lacks the sparkle of Singapore, Seoul, or Shanghai. It does not even begin to aspire to the grandiosity of Beijing. Yet in the fresh, humidity-laden air and the fading sunlight of late afternoon, it is hard to imagine a place more beautiful.