The nation of Malaysia connects two distinct areas: a peninsula and an island.
In the west is the end of the Malay Peninsula with a spine of north to south mountains separating a wide western plain from a generally narrower eastern counter-part. Beyond the southern tip is the small populous island of Singapore. Further east is the world's third largest island, Borneo, split between Malaysia and Indonesia by southwest to northeast mountains rising to just over 4000 meters at Mt. Kinabalu in Sabah State. While the Malaysian north is hilly until near the coast, the bulk of the Indonesian portion is swampy forested lowland.
Just over half the people speak the regional lingua franca, Malay(2), as a first language. More than a quarter speak Min(3) Chinese, all of them peninsular or Singapore residents, along with Tamil speakers, who are more than one in five of the area's residents. A further one in ten use one of the many local languages, and perhaps one in five Javanese--thanks to recent immigrants to Borneo.
Religion approximately follows language with the Malay and Javanese speakers being Sunni Moslems; the minor local languages are split between Moslems and Christians. Moslems all together are more than three of four people. The Chinese follow mostly a syncretic blend of Buddhist, Taoist and other Chinese religions, but about a third are Christian. Finally the Tamils and other peoples from India are Hindus.
The largest city is Singapore on its own island and country, followed by Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, whose Petronas Towers were the world's tallest buildings as the millenium changed. Within the Kuala Lumpur metropolitan area are two other cities with more than a million residents: Subang Jaya and Klang (Kelang).
People arrived hee more than 50,000 years ago. About three thousand years ago speakers of Western Malayo-Polynesian languages arrived here and nearby, giving rise to local languages like Iban and the Barito languages. On the peninusula they displaced speakers of Aslian languages like Sengoi(4) and Temiar. Seven further changes gave rise to the current pattern: I. Migrants from India arrived, introducing writing, Sanskrit(5), Hinduism and Buddhism. All languages, save some in remote mountains, were profoundly influenced by Sanskrit. II. Speakers of a Barito language--Malagasy or its ancester--left southeast Borneo for Madagascar. III. Min Chinese moved from the Fujian coastal ports to southeast Asian ports, and continued moving as ports' fortunes rose and fell, and as majorities--particularly Moslems--persecuted them. IV. Tamil migrants arrived next, leaving a name on one nation: the Land of the Singhs, that is Singapore. V. By the 12th century a nation centered in eastern Sumatra introduced Malay to the straits area and beyond. VI. Next came Islam to largely replace Hinduism and Buddhism. VII. Christianity came with European colonization. VIII. Last the Indonesian government has encouraged mass emigration of Javanese to the Borneo provinces--though this has met with violent resistance.
Around Borneo:
north of the top of Borneo
northeast of Borneo
east of northeastern Borneo
east of northern Eastern Kalimantan Province
east of southeastern Borneo
south of Borneo
southwest from southwestern Borneo
west of Borneo
northwest of Western Kalimantan Province
northwest of Borneo
Around peninsular Malaysia:
northeast of peninsular Malaysia
east-southeast of peninsular Malaysia
southeast of Singapore and peninsular Malaysia
southwest of peninsula Malaysia
northwest of peninsular Malaysia
(1) The island is called Kalimantan by the majority of the locals.
(2) Called Malaysian and Indonesian by the respective governments.
(3) Min Chinese is actually several mutually unintelligible spoken languages. It is also called Hokkien, Fukien, Teochew, Teochiu, Chiuchow, Chaozhou, Taeciw and Swatonese.
(4) Or Semai.
(5) The scholarly and religious language, not their mother tongues.