Asean Country Profiles

In general, the people wear clothes that are similar to western style. They wear traditional dress on special occasions.

Men: Indonesian men generally wore sarongs (usually with a checkered pattern) in the home. In public, the sarong is worn only when attending Friday prayers at the mosque. For formal national occasions, the men wear batik shirts with trousers or teluk beskap, a combination of the Javanese jacket and sarong.

Women: For formal occasions, Indonesian women wear the kebaya -- a beautiful, figure-hugging embroidered blouse worn with a batik sarong that is usually dyed with flower motifs and in bright colours. On these occasions, women often tied their hair into a bun, or attached a false hairpiece. In addition, they may drape a long stretch of cloth, called "selendang", over one shoulder. This cloth can be used as a head shawl or on less formal occasions, used to carry babies or objects.

Traditional Dress: Indonesia has 300 ethnic groups; each has their own traditional dress variations.

* The Minangkabau ethnic group is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra. Their traditional dress consists of silk robes with metallic thread woven into the material. Their headdress is shaped like buffalo horns.

* The Toraja people live in the mountainous areas of South Sulawesi (Celebes). The women's traditional costume features elaborate beadwork and tassels.

Asean Country Profiles
ASEAN or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is an international organization established by the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand in 1967 to ...

* accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development and
* promote peace and security in Southeast Asia.

Brunei joined in 1984,
Vietnam in 1995,
Laos and Myanmar in 1997 and
Cambodia in 1999.

This site aims to present a snapshot of each ASEAN member country ... looking at its geography, history, cultural heritage, uniqueness and some commonalities among them + information on the giant catfish, komodo dragons and orangutans.

It is still a work-in-progress as I hope to add new categories such as legends, stories and fun activities. I welcome your suggestions and contributions.

Malaysia's Geography
http://www.vtaide.com/ASEAN/Malaysia/images/my-map.jpg
Capital city: Kuala Lumpur
Note: Putrajaya, a planned city, acts as the government administration centre/capital of Malaysia.

Location: Southeastern Asia,
(1) peninsular Malaysia, bordering Thailand in the north and Singapore in the south
(2) East Malaysia (states of Sabah and Sarawak in the northern one-third of the island of Borneo), bordering Indonesia, Brunei and the South China Sea

Area: 329,750 sq km
(land: 328,550 sq km; water: 1,200 sq km)

Terrain: coastal plains rising to hills and mountains

Elevation extremes
lowest point: Indian Ocean
0 m;
highest point: Mount Kinabalu (Malay: Gunung Kinabalu) 4,100 m

Major rivers:
(1) Rajang (longest at 563 km) in Sarawak, East Malaysia and
(2) Pahang (459 km) in Peninsular Malaysia

Land use
arable land: 5.46%;
permanent crops: 17.54%;
other: 77% (2005)

Irrigated land: 3,650 sq km (2003)

Natural resources: tin, petroleum, timber, copper, iron ore, natural gas, bauxite

Climate: tropical;
April to October: southwest monsoon;
October to February: northeast monsoon

Natural hazards: flooding, landslides, forest fires

Environment issues: (1) air pollution from industrial and vehicular emissions; (2) water pollution from raw sewage; (3) deforestation; (4) smoke/haze from Indonesian forest fires