Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
187
Shoe School
In January 2009, luxury shoemaker and Penang native Jimmy Choo announced
his plan to create a series of couture shoe academies worldwide. The first is
expected to open in his home country, Malaysia.
TOURISM
In 2008, M alaysia attracted a r ecord-
breaking 22 million tourists, half of which
were S ingaporeans. I mportant inbound
tourism mar kets include Thailand, I ndo-
nesia, China, and India. The driving forces
behind Malaysia's tourism industry are the
Meetings, I ncentives, Conv entions &
Exhibitions (MICE) sector; medical tour-
ism; and educational tourism. The govern-
ment's main tourism focus is historical site
conservation, upgrades to tourism-r elated
infrastructure such as air , land, and sea
travel; and the impr ovement of tourism-
related services and products.
In 2008, Melaka and Georgetown were
inscribed in the U nited N ations E duca-
tional, Scientific, and C ultural O rganiza-
tion's (UNESCO) World Heritage List for
cultural sites. They joined G unung Mulu
National Park and Kinabalu P ark, World
Heritage List natural sites since 2000.
2
LOOKING BACK AT MALAYSIA
POPULATING THE
PENINSULA
(PREHISTORY-1ST
CENTURY
B
.
C
.)
If Malaysia can trace its success to one ele-
ment, it would be geographic location.
Placed strategically at a major cr ossroads
between the Eastern and Western worlds,
the result of alternating seasonal northeast
and southw est monsoons, M alaysia (for-
merly kno wn as M alaya) was the ideal
center for East-W est trade activities. The
character of the indigenous Malays is cred-
ited to their r elationship with the sea,
while centuries of outside influences
well, including Sumatra and Borneo. They
brought with them kno wledge of agricul-
ture and metalwork, as well as beliefs in a
spirit world (attitudes that ar e still prac-
ticed by many groups today).
Malaysia's earliest trading contacts were
established b y the 1st centur y b .c. with
China and India. India proved most influ-
ential, impacting local cultur e with B ud-
dhist and Hindu beliefs that are evidenced
today in the M alay language, literatur e,
and many customs.
10
THE INTRODUCTION OF
ISLAM (15TH CENTURY)
Recorded history didn't come around until
the M alay Annals of the 17th centur y,
which tell the stor y of P arameswara, also
known as Iskander Shah, ruler of Temasek
(Singapore), who was for ced to flee to
Melaka (which was kno wn as M alacca
during colonial occupation) ar ound a.d.
1400. He set up a trading por t and led it
to world-renowned financial glory. Melaka
shaped their culture.
The earliest inhabitants of the penin-
sula were the Orang Asli, who are believed
to have migrated from China and Tibet as
early as 5,000 y ears ago. The first M alays
were established b y 1000 b .c., having
migrated not only to Malaya, but through-
out the entir e I ndonesian ar chipelago as
