Malaysia
Registration InterestFor Business
The True Malaysia: Trade, Tourism and Malaysian People
EN — English, current languageBM — Bahasa Melayu, not available for this page yet
Editorial illustration of a Malaysian landscape at sunset, with a city skyline, a lakeside mosque and administrative buildings, and forested highlands

ABOUT MALAYSIA

Discover Malaysia

Explore its regions, people, heritage and everyday life.

Explore Malaysia at a GlanceView States and Territories

A federal constitutional monarchy of 13 states and three federal territories, across Peninsular Malaysia and northern Borneo.

Understand Malaysia's history, constitutional system, states and federal territories, people, cities, natural regions and national connections — each fact carrying the official source it came from and the date it was checked.

  • 13

    States

  • 3

    Federal territories

  • 66

    Official sources cited

  • 2026-10-10

    Last reviewed

The True Malaysia is an independent information platform. It is not a government service, not an agency of any Malaysian authority, and not a partner of any body named on this page.

Every image on this page is a commissioned editorial illustration. None is a photograph of a specific building, map, airport, train, road, port or emergency operation, and no fact on this page is drawn from one.

12 items on this page could not be confirmed from a primary Malaysian source during the research pass. Each is marked where a reader would look for it, and all are listed together in the sources section at the foot of the page.

Malaysia at a glance

The facts, and where each one comes from

Every row carries the official page it was read from and the date it was checked. Where no official source states something, the row says so instead of guessing.

A national story

How the federation came to exist

A neutral outline of how the federation came to exist, with each entry carrying its own source. Malaysia's constitutional history is a story of states federating, not of a single dynasty, and this timeline is built that way.

Editorial illustration moving from traditional sailing vessels and shophouses through colonial-era civic buildings to a modern city skyline and container port
A commissioned editorial illustration of change over time, not a depiction of any particular place or moment. Every date below carries its own source.

  1. Before 1400

    Early communities and maritime networks

    Communities along the peninsula's coasts and rivers, and in northern Borneo, sat on the sea routes between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea. Regional polities grew around those routes long before the states that federated in the twentieth century existed.

    MyGovernment — Malaysian History (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The official page frames the Melaka era as the start of its narrative; this entry summarises the setting it describes rather than adding dates of its own.

  2. Around 1400

    The Melaka Sultanate

    The official history dates the era of the Malay Sultanate of Malacca to around 1400 AD. No single founding year is given on that page, so none is stated here.

    MyGovernment — Malaysian History (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  3. 1511 – 1824

    Portuguese, Dutch and British periods

    Melaka fell to the Portuguese in 1511, and from that year the official history describes Malaya entering the colonial era. The Dutch followed in 1641, and the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 divided the region's spheres of influence. These periods did not touch every state equally, and the Borneo territories followed a different course again.

    MyGovernment — Malaysian History (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  4. 1948 – 1957

    Constitutional development and the Federation of Malaya

    The Conference of Rulers records that from 1948 to 1957 the Council of Rulers was composed of nine Malay rulers — the institutional continuity that carried into the federation and still elects the Yang di-Pertuan Agong today.

    Conference of Rulers — Background and History (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  5. 31 August 1957

    Independence of the Federation of Malaya

    The national anthem was played for the first time after midnight on the eve of 31 August 1957 at the Selangor Club Ground, at the independence declaration ceremony set for that day.

    MyGovernment — National Anthem (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The MyGovernment history page's own independence section is a heading with no body text, so the date is cited from the national anthem page instead.

  6. 16 September 1963

    The formation of Malaysia

    Proclamation L.N. 214/63 appointed the sixteenth day of September 1963 as Malaysia Day, the day the Malaysia Act 1963 came into force. Section 4 named the federation Malaysia and federated the eleven states of Malaya, the Borneo States of Sabah and Sarawak, and the State of Singapore. The Act had originally set 31 August 1963, which the proclamation displaced.

    Malaysia Act 1963 (Act No. 26 of 1963) (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  7. 9 August 1965

    Singapore leaves the federation

    The Conference of Rulers records Singapore's membership of the Conference as lasting until 9 August 1965.

    Conference of Rulers — Background and History (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  8. 31 August 1970

    Rukun Negara proclaimed

    The national principles were proclaimed on 31 August 1970, the thirteenth anniversary of independence. Its five principles are set out in full below.

    MyGovernment — Rukun Negara (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  9. 1970 onward

    Industrial, urban and regional development

    The decades since have reshaped where Malaysians live and work, across manufacturing corridors on both coasts of the peninsula and distinct development paths in Sabah and Sarawak. Sector-level figures and dates belong with their own sources, so this page does not summarise them.

    Department of Statistics Malaysia (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10Given as the place to go for the figures rather than as the source of a claim made here.

Rukun Negara — the five principles

Proclaimed on 31 August 1970, in the official English wording.

  1. 1

    Belief in God

  2. 2

    Loyalty to King and Country

  3. 3

    Supremacy of the Constitution

  4. 4

    Rule of Law

  5. 5

    Courtesy and Morality

MyGovernment — Rukun Negara (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

Government

A federal constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy

Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. The explanation below is evergreen: it describes the institutions, not who currently holds office. Current office-holders are listed separately, dated, because they change.

Editorial illustration of a legislative chamber interior beside administrative buildings and a domed mosque on a lakeside at sunset
An editorial illustration, not a photograph of any particular chamber or building. No royal portrait, coat of arms or official seal appears anywhere on this page.

  • The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the federal head of state

    Malaysia is described officially as a constitutional monarchy with His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong as head of state.

    MyGovernment — Parliamentary Democracy System (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • The Conference of Rulers elects him for a five-year term

    His Majesty reigns for a term of five years and is elected by the Conference of Rulers. Only a ruler may be elected, and only if he consents; only the rulers may vote; the ballot is secret and a nominee must obtain a majority of five votes. The order of selection normally follows the seniority of each ruler by length of reign, now set out in a restructured list under the Third Schedule of the Federal Constitution. The four Yang di-Pertua Negeri are members of the Conference but are not present for the election.

    Conference of Rulers — Election of His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10This is not a public election and not an automatic hereditary national succession.

  • Parliament

    Verification required

    The readable official page describes the Parliament of Malaysia as consisting of the Senate (Dewan Negara) and the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat), which first met on 11 September 1959. The familiar constitutional formulation that Parliament comprises the Yang di-Pertuan Agong together with both Houses rests on Article 44 of the Federal Constitution, which could not be read during this research pass — so it is marked for verification rather than asserted here.

    Parliament of Malaysia — General Information (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10Most of parlimen.gov.my blocks automated access, so only this page could be read.

  • Federal constituencies

    The Election Commission states that the number of federal electoral constituencies in force is 222, alongside 600 state assembly constituencies. Note that this is a count of constituencies, not a statement of the number of members sitting at any moment.

    Election Commission of Malaysia — Frequently Asked Questions (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Head of government and the division of powers

    The Prime Minister is head of government and leads the Cabinet within the constitutional framework. Powers and responsibilities are divided between federal and state levels, with local authorities operating under the frameworks that apply to them. Several matters sit differently in Sabah and Sarawak than in the peninsula, which is why a question about a licence or a service often has a different answer depending on the state.

    Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Nine rulers and four Yang di-Pertua Negeri

    Nine states have hereditary rulers: Sultans in Johor, Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Selangor and Terengganu; the Raja of Perlis; and the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan. Melaka, Pulau Pinang, Sabah and Sarawak each have a Yang di-Pertua Negeri.

    Conference of Rulers — Info Raja (the listing of all heads of state with their exact titles) (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10Deliberately not cited to MyGovernment's state-government page, which lists only eleven states — it omits Perlis and Negeri Sembilan from both its monarchical and non-monarchical lists, in English and in Malay. The Conference of Rulers' own listing is complete.

Current office-holders

Office-holders change. These three records are dated, and each carries the official page it came from. Everything above this point is evergreen institutional description and does not go out of date with them.

States and federal territories

13 states and 3 federal territories

Thirteen states and three federal territories. The head-of-state system for every state is confirmed from the Conference of Rulers' own listing. Capitals are a different matter: several state portals block automated access, so six capitals could not be confirmed from an official source and say so below rather than being filled in from common knowledge.

Editorial illustration of a three-dimensional relief model of the Malaysian landmasses on a brass table, with marker pins
Conceptual artwork, not an accurate map. It does not show Malaysia's territory, boundaries or maritime claims, and nothing on this page is derived from it. The directory below is the actual record.

Head-of-state systems for all 13 states are confirmed from one complete official listing. 8 of 13 capitals are confirmed from an official portal; 5 could not be and say so below.

Conference of Rulers — Info Raja (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

Malaysia’s states and federal territories, with capital, region, head-of-state system and official portal
State or territoryCapitalRegionHead of stateOfficial portal
JohorJohor BahruThe seat of government moved from Teluk Belanga, Singapore, in 1889.Peninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)
KedahAlor SetarDescribed by its city council as the oldest state capital in Malaysia.Peninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)
KelantanKota BharuThe official page calls Kota Bharu the seat of government of Kelantan, declared in 1844 — it uses "pusat pemerintahan" rather than the word for state capital.Peninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)
MelakaVerification requiredNo official page that could be read states Melaka's capital or settles its official name. The state portal blocks automated access, and the Melaka Historic City Council's own profile pages do not say that Melaka is the state capital. Rather than publish an unsourced answer, this record holds.Peninsular MalaysiaYang di-Pertua NegeriPortal (opens in a new tab)Melaka Historic City Council. The state portal melaka.gov.my blocks automated access.
Negeri SembilanSerembanPeninsular MalaysiaYang di-Pertuan BesarPortal (opens in a new tab)
PahangRoyal town: PekanVerification requiredThe Pahang state portal lists Kuantan's city council but never states that Kuantan is the state capital. Pekan is confirmed as a royal town by the portal's own listing of the Royal Town of Pekan Municipal Council.Peninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)
Pulau Pinang (Penang)Verification requiredThe Penang state portal's history page mentions George Town only in an account of how the name arose; it never calls it the state capital. Widely reported, but not confirmable from the official portal during this pass.Peninsular MalaysiaYang di-Pertua NegeriPortal (opens in a new tab)
PerakRoyal town: Kuala Kangsar (verification required)IpohThe Sultan of Perak declared Ipoh a city and the capital of Perak Darul Ridzuan on 27 May 1988.Peninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)Ipoh City Council. The Perak state portal and the Sultan's office site both block automated access, which is why Kuala Kangsar's status as the royal town could not be confirmed in official wording.
PerlisVerification requiredKangar is widely reported as the capital, but the royal office's state introduction mentions it only in passing and no official page read during this pass states it. Arau is not mentioned at all.Peninsular MalaysiaRajaPortal (opens in a new tab)
SabahKota KinabaluJesselton remained the capital and was renamed Kota Kinabalu in 1968; city status followed on 2 February 2000.East MalaysiaYang di-Pertua NegeriPortal (opens in a new tab)
SarawakKuchingRecorded by the city's official history as remaining the state capital through the formation of Malaysia in 1963.East MalaysiaYang di-Pertua NegeriPortal (opens in a new tab)
SelangorVerification requiredShah Alam is widely reported as the capital, but the Shah Alam city council site and the state assembly site both block automated access and the state portal's homepage names neither the capital nor the Sultan.Peninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)
TerengganuKuala TerengganuPeninsular MalaysiaSultanPortal (opens in a new tab)
Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur—The national capital, and a federal territory rather than a state.Federal territory—Portal (opens in a new tab)
Federal Territory of Labuan—"Federal Territory of Labuan" is the form used in Perbadanan Labuan's own statutory functions. The inverted "Labuan Federal Territory" does not appear there.Federal territory—Portal (opens in a new tab)
Federal Territory of Putrajaya—The federal administrative centre. Kuala Lumpur remains the national capital; the two are different places with different roles.Federal territory—Portal (opens in a new tab)

  • Johor

    Malaysia's southern gateway, facing Singapore across the Strait of Johor, with the Iskandar Malaysia development region.

    Business in Malaysia

  • Kedah

    A northern state of rice plains and coast, and the state in which Langkawi sits.

    Islands and coastal Malaysia

  • Kelantan

    A north-eastern state on the South China Sea, with a strong craft and cultural tradition.

  • Melaka

    A historic strait port on the west coast, the seat of the fifteenth-century sultanate and later of successive colonial administrations.

  • Negeri Sembilan

    A west-coast state about sixty kilometres from Kuala Lumpur, with a distinctive Minangkabau architectural and customary inheritance.

  • Pahang

    The largest state in Peninsular Malaysia, running from the Titiwangsa highlands to the east coast, and the state in which Tioman sits.

    Islands and coastal Malaysia

  • Pulau Pinang (Penang)

    An island and a mainland strip on the north-west coast, combining a heritage port city with one of Malaysia's established manufacturing corridors.

    Business in Malaysia

  • Perak

    A west-coast state of limestone landscapes and former tin country, with Pangkor off its coast.

  • Perlis

    Malaysia's smallest state, in the far north-west on the Thai border.

  • Sabah

    Northern Borneo, from Mount Kinabalu to the Sulu and South China seas, with its own immigration controls and its own development corridor.

    Islands and coastal Malaysia

  • Sarawak

    Malaysia's largest state by area, in north-western Borneo, with extensive rainforest, river systems and its own immigration controls.

    Geography and nature

  • Selangor

    The state surrounding Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, and Malaysia's most heavily industrialised and urbanised.

    Business in Malaysia

  • Terengganu

    An east-coast state on the South China Sea, with the Perhentian, Redang and Kapas islands off its coast.

    Islands and coastal Malaysia

  • Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur

    Malaysia's national capital and principal commercial centre.

    Business in Malaysia

  • Federal Territory of Labuan

    An island federal territory off the coast of Sabah, and the seat of Malaysia's offshore financial centre.

    Business networks and associations

  • Federal Territory of Putrajaya

    The planned seat of federal administration, south of Kuala Lumpur.

Cities and regional gateways

Eight places that explain the country

Eight places that explain how the country is organised — a capital and an administrative centre that are not the same thing, two heritage port cities, a southern border gateway, and the two Bornean state capitals. These are not Malaysia's only significant cities, and a fuller list of state capitals and regional centres follows the grid.

  • Editorial illustration of a dense city skyline with illuminated towers at dusk

    Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur

    Kuala Lumpur

    The national capital and principal commercial centre. Most federal regulators, the central bank, the exchange and the apex business organisations are headquartered here or nearby.

    Business in Malaysia
  • Editorial illustration of a planned administrative city on a lakeside at sunset, with a domed mosque, a bridge and government buildings

    Federal Territory of Putrajaya

    Putrajaya

    The federal administrative centre, and a separate federal territory from Kuala Lumpur. Ministries and federal departments sit here, which is why an administrative appointment and a commercial meeting can be in two different territories on the same day.

    Invest in Malaysia
  • Editorial illustration of a heritage shophouse street with trishaws and pedestrians

    Pulau Pinang

    George Town

    A heritage port city on Penang island, paired with one of Malaysia's longest-established electronics and manufacturing corridors on the island and the mainland behind it.

    Food and halal in Malaysia
  • Editorial illustration of a riverside heritage quarter at dusk, with a river boat and historic civic buildings

    Melaka

    Melaka

    The seat of the fifteenth-century sultanate and then of successive colonial administrations, on the strait that carries much of the region's shipping.

    A national story
  • Editorial illustration of a southern city skyline at sunset with a long causeway crossing a strait

    Johor

    Johor Bahru

    Malaysia's southern gateway, facing Singapore across the strait, and the urban centre of the Iskandar Malaysia development region.

    Invest in Malaysia
  • Editorial illustration of a coastal city at sunset with offshore islands and a mountain range behind

    Sabah

    Kota Kinabalu

    Sabah's capital and the gateway to northern Borneo. Sabah operates its own immigration controls, so entry here is not identical to entry into the peninsula.

    Visa and entry
  • Editorial illustration of a riverside city at sunset with a pedestrian bridge and a distinctive civic building on the far bank

    Sarawak

    Kuching

    Sarawak's capital, on the Sarawak River. Sarawak likewise operates its own immigration controls and has its own distinct administrative arrangements.

    Visa and entry
  • Editorial illustration of a heritage street of white colonial-era buildings with limestone hills rising behind

    Perak

    Ipoh

    Perak's capital, declared a city by the Sultan in 1988, set among the limestone country of the former tin belt.

    States and territories

Other state capitals and regional centres

  • Alor Setar, Kedah
  • Kangar, Perlis
  • Kota Bharu, Kelantan
  • Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu
  • Kuantan, Pahang
  • Seremban, Negeri Sembilan
  • Shah Alam, Selangor
  • Victoria, Federal Territory of Labuan
  • Miri, Sarawak
  • Sandakan and Tawau, Sabah

Listed for orientation. Where a capital in this list is marked verification required in the directory above, that caveat applies here too.

People, languages and living culture

A plural society, described in its own terms

Malaysia is a plural society, and the communities within it are not interchangeable. This section describes language, constitutional position and cultural life in the terms official sources use, and avoids reducing any community to food, festivals or costume.

Editorial illustration of a multi-generational group sharing a meal together at an outdoor dining street
An editorial illustration. Nothing about the religion, language, ethnicity or background of anyone depicted should be inferred from it, and no claim on this page rests on it.

  • Malay is the national and official language

    Bahasa Melayu is an official language whose function and role as the national language, in the official wording, cannot be disputed. Article 152 of the Federal Constitution sets that position and the National Language Act 1967 strengthened it.

    MyGovernment — Official Language (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • English has a practical role, not an official one

    The same official page observes that English still dominates the language of trade and industry in the country. That is a description of practice. It is not a grant of official status, and this page does not describe English as a federal official language.

    MyGovernment — Official Language (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Chinese languages, Tamil and Indigenous languages

    Mandarin and other Chinese languages, Tamil, and the Indigenous languages of the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak are all spoken in daily life, in schooling and in community institutions. A single count of languages in use is not published on the official pages read for this page, so none is given.

  • Communities

    Malay, Chinese and Indian communities, the Orang Asli of the peninsula, and the many Indigenous peoples of Sabah and Sarawak — who are distinct from one another and should be named specifically rather than grouped — together make up Malaysian society. Where this page needs a specific community's own account of itself, it links to that community's or the relevant authority's own source rather than paraphrasing.

  • Religion and the constitutional position

    Verification required

    Islam's position in the Federal Constitution, and the constitutional provision for the practice of other religions, are matters of precise legal wording. This page points to the primary sources rather than paraphrasing them, because a loose summary of Article 3 and Article 11 would misrepresent both.

    MyGovernment — Malaysia's ruling system (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The constitutional text itself sits with the Attorney-General's Chambers; its site blocked automated access during this research pass, so the articles are not quoted here.

  • Rukun Negara

    The five national principles, proclaimed on 31 August 1970, are the shared civic statement most often cited in Malaysian public life. They are listed in full in the history section above, in their official English wording.

    MyGovernment — Rukun Negara (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

Geography, climate and natural heritage

Two parts, separated by sea

Conditions vary more between Malaysia's regions than a single national description suggests, which is why this section gives no fixed monsoon dates, park openings or wildlife guarantees.

Editorial illustration spanning a peninsular city skyline, a high mountain range under cloud, and a river city in Borneo
An editorial illustration of the country's three broad regions, not a map.
Editorial illustration of rainforest, limestone hills, a hornbill, mangroves and a coral reef with a turtle
An editorial illustration. Species shown are indicative, not a record of a sighting at any location.

  • Two parts, separated by sea

    Malaysia is in two parts: Peninsular Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak in northern Borneo. The South China Sea lies between them. The Malaysia Act 1963 federated the Borneo States alongside the eleven states of Malaya, and the two parts have kept distinct administrative arrangements since — including separate immigration controls in Sabah and Sarawak.

  • Highlands, coasts and rivers

    A mountainous spine runs down the peninsula, separating a densely developed west coast from a quieter east coast. Borneo adds higher mountains, longer rivers and extensive interior forest. Coastal mangroves, river systems and offshore reefs connect the two.

  • Equatorial, with real regional variation

    Conditions are equatorial, and the variation between regions matters more than a single national description suggests. Monsoon effects differ by coast: the east coast of the peninsula and parts of Borneo experience a markedly different season from the west coast at the same time of year. This page gives no fixed monsoon dates, because conditions shift year to year and the forecast, not a calendar, is what should drive a plan.

  • Biodiversity and protected areas

    Rainforest, mangrove, limestone karst and marine habitats are managed under a mix of federal and state authority, and in Sabah and Sarawak largely under state authority. Access to a national or marine park, a trail or an island is decided by the managing authority, and can change. This page does not state park openings, access rules, ferry schedules or the likelihood of seeing any species.

For current conditions and warnings, go to the Malaysian Meteorological Department; for disaster information, the National Disaster Management Agency's portal. Both are linked in the official resources below.

Practical national information

Orientation, with the source for each line

Orientation only. Entry requirements and anything that changes with policy live on their own pages, with their own sources and dates.

Emergency and safety

In an emergency in Malaysia, dial 999

The highest-risk information on this page, and the most carefully sourced. Read the caveats: they say exactly what the official pages do and do not state.

999

Malaysia Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 — the current modernised system is named Next Generation Malaysian Emergency Response Services 999 (NG MERS 999)

The True Malaysia is not an emergency service and cannot pass on an emergency call. In an emergency in Malaysia, dial 999.

Verified 2026-10-10

Editorial illustration of emergency responders, an ambulance and a fire appliance in the rain outside a coordination centre
An editorial illustration. It is not a photograph of any Malaysian emergency service, operations room or incident, and no agency, uniform or vehicle shown should be taken as identifying a real one.

The five agencies it connects

  • Royal Malaysia Police
  • Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia
  • Ministry of Health Malaysia
  • Malaysia Civil Defence Force
  • Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency

These are the five agencies the official page names. It does not use the word "ambulance"; the health agency named is the Ministry of Health.

What is not stated

No official page read during this research names a single operator of the service. The modernisation is described as a government initiative through the Ministry of Communications, and the Civil Defence Force describes its own call centres within the system. This page therefore names no operator.

No response time is stated anywhere on this page, and no operations-room or agency switchboard number is offered as a substitute for 999.

The older numbers

999 was introduced on 1 October 2007, combining the former emergency numbers 991, 994 and 999. 994 appears on the Civil Defence Force's page only in that historical sentence and is not published here as a current number.

The Fire and Rescue Department's own site blocked automated access during this research pass, so this page states that 994 was integrated in 2007 — not that it appears nowhere official today.

Sources

MyGovernment — MERS 999 Emergency Line (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The page carries a site-wide footer timestamp but no article-level updated date.

Malaysia Civil Defence Force — 999 Emergency Services (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

Aviation and airports

Four different roles, often confused for one

Four different kinds of body are often spoken of as though they were one. Policy, regulation, airport operation and flying are separate functions in Malaysia, and knowing which one you need saves a great deal of time.

Editorial illustration of an airport terminal concourse and an unmarked aircraft at a gate with a city skyline beyond
An editorial illustration. The aircraft carries no livery and represents no airline.

  • Ministry of Transport

    Responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies, strategies and programmes for public transportation, across the land, aviation and maritime sectors.

    Ministry of Transport — About (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM)

    A statutory body under the Ministry of Transport, established to oversee and regulate all aspects of civil aviation, with responsibility for technical, safety, security and economic regulation — including oversight of airport charges and consumer protection, air service licensing and route allocation — and providing air navigation services within the Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu Flight Information Regions.

    CAAM — About Us (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10CAAM's assumption of the former aviation commission's economic functions is not described on this page and is not stated here.

  • Malaysia Airports

    Operates and manages airports. Its subsidiary Malaysia Airports (Sepang) Sdn Bhd focuses on the management and operations of KL International Airport including Terminal 2. The number of airports it operates is not stated on its own pages, so none is given here, and it should not be assumed that one operator runs every airport in the country.

    Malaysia Airports — Corporate (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Malaysia Airlines

    Describes itself on its own site as the national carrier of Malaysia, and is described the same way by Malaysia Aviation Group. It is an airline, not a government department, and it is not Malaysia's only airline.

    Malaysia Airlines — About Us (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10Corroborated by Malaysia Aviation Group's Our Story page. Both use the phrase "national carrier".

International airports

The Ministry of Transport lists six international airports, alongside 16 domestic airports and 18 STOLports, which it gives as counts rather than naming.

  • Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)
  • Langkawi International Airport
  • Kuching International Airport
  • Penang International Airport
  • Kota Kinabalu International Airport
  • Senai International Airport

Attributed to the Ministry of Transport rather than stated as a bare fact: its page carries no last-updated date, and several airports described as international elsewhere are not in this list of six.

Ministry of Transport — List of Airports (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The official page renders the first entry as "Kuala Lumpur International Lumpur (KLIA)"; the name is given here in its correct form.

No fare, schedule, terminal assignment or route is published here. Those change daily and belong with the airline or the airport.

Rail, transit, roads, ports and ferries

Who is responsible for what

Routes, schedules, fares and closures change constantly. This is a directory of who is responsible for what, so you can go to the body that actually holds the current answer.

Editorial illustration of an elevated urban transit train at a station platform and an intercity train on a surface line
An editorial illustration of urban transit and intercity rail. It does not depict a high-speed rail service; Malaysia has none in operation.
Editorial illustration of an expressway beside a container port with gantry cranes and a passenger vessel
An editorial illustration, not a photograph of a particular expressway, port or vessel.

  • Prasarana Malaysia

    Federal, in the areas it serves

    A wholly government-owned entity established by the Ministry of Finance, and the owner-operator of the country's rail services including the LRT networks, KL Monorail and the MRT lines, as well as the stage bus services in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Pahang. Rapid Bus and Rapid Rail are named as its subsidiaries.

    Prasarana — About Us (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10MyRapid appears as the commuter-facing service and journey-planning app. Its corporate relationship to Prasarana and the Rapid subsidiaries is not defined on this page and is not stated here.

  • Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB)

    Verification required

    Peninsular Malaysia

    Operates the ETS, Intercity and KTM Komuter services. KTMB's own corporate page states the company name and those services but no mandate, role or ownership, so none is stated here.

    KTMB — Corporate (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat (APAD)

    Peninsular Malaysia

    Responsible for planning and defining land-based public transport policies, programmes and strategies, covering rail, bus and taxi services and the carriage of goods by rail and road. It states that it has jurisdiction over Peninsular Malaysia.

    APAD — Vision and Mission (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The page affirms Peninsular jurisdiction but does not state that Sabah and Sarawak are excluded, so this page does not either.

  • Lembaga Pelesenan Kenderaan Perdagangan (LPKP) Sarawak

    Sarawak

    Sarawak's commercial vehicle licensing board, based in Kuching, issuing Class A and Class C licences, rental car, taxi, stage, express, school and staff bus licences, e-hailing permits and timber-log transport permits.

    LPKP Sarawak (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10The English abbreviation "CVLB" appears in search listings but not in the page body read, so the Malay name is used here.

  • Lembaga Pelesenan Kenderaan Perdagangan (LPKP) Sabah

    Verification required

    Sabah

    Sabah's commercial vehicle licensing board. Its site returned server errors throughout this research pass, so its stated role and governing law could not be read and are not described here. Sabah and Sarawak are separate bodies, not one joint board.

    LPKP Sabah (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan (JPJ)

    Federal

    The road transport department. Its stated objectives are to create and regulate the registration and licensing of motor vehicles, to establish and administer driver training, testing and licensing, to enforce and administer road transport laws, and to regulate motor vehicle safety standards.

    JPJ — Vision, Mission and Objectives (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

  • Ministry of Transport — land agencies

    Federal

    The ministry's own directory of the land transport agencies under it, and the right starting point when the responsible body for a particular question is unclear.

    Ministry of Transport — Land Agencies (opens in a new tab) · Verified 2026-10-10

No route, timetable, fare or closure is reproduced here. Each operator publishes its own, and theirs is the one that is current.

Official resources

Go to the body that holds the current answer

Text links only — no logos, seals or coats of arms are reproduced anywhere on this site. Each entry carries the date the link was checked. A checked date records that the page was reachable and said what is described here; it is not an assurance that the information behind it is current today.

Government and constitution

Statistics

Safety and weather

Entry and customs

Transport and aviation

State and territory portals

What this page could not confirm — 12 items

Written down so it cannot be quietly filled in later. Each of these is marked in place above as well.

  • At a glance: Driving side — no official page states it outright.
  • Government: Parliament's composition including the Yang di-Pertuan Agong — Article 44 could not be read.
  • People and culture: The constitutional wording on religion — the Attorney-General's Chambers site blocked access.
  • States: Melaka — capital not confirmed from an official portal.
  • States: Pahang — capital not confirmed from an official portal.
  • States: Pulau Pinang (Penang) — capital not confirmed from an official portal.
  • States: Perlis — capital not confirmed from an official portal.
  • States: Selangor — capital not confirmed from an official portal.
  • States: Kuala Kangsar as Perak's royal town — Perak royal and state sites blocked access.
  • Transport: KTMB's role, mandate and ownership — not stated on its own corporate page.
  • Transport: LPKP Sabah's role and governing law — its site returned server errors.
  • Transport: MyRapid's corporate relationship to Prasarana and the Rapid subsidiaries.

The True Malaysia is an independent information platform. It is not a government service, not an agency of any Malaysian authority, and not a partner of any body named on this page. Requirements, office-holders, agency responsibilities and contact details change. Confirm the current position directly with the responsible Malaysian authority before acting on anything here.

Page last reviewed 2026-10-10. Every image on this page is a commissioned editorial illustration. None is a photograph of a specific building, map, airport, train, road, port or emergency operation, and no fact on this page is drawn from one.