Malaysia

Having lived in Malaysia for more than 10 years now, I thought I would start this blog with a brief article on this country.  Malaysia is located in South East Asia, between Thailand and Indonesia.  It is split between the peninsular section of the country (attached to continental Asia) and a portion of the island of Borneo (called east Malaysia, consisting of 2 states).  Malaysia is located on the equator, so it is tropical, hot, humid, has rainy seasons, and the length of days is pretty consistent all year round.  The country has been colonized by several western nations over the period of several hundred years, each leaving its traces behind.  The last of which was the English, who left in the 1950's.  Now Malaysia is closely tied to the British commonwealth and many remnants of the British system still remain.  English is a commonly used language here, while the primary language is Bahasa Malaysia (with variations of dialects), with several dialects of Chinese and Tamil as additional commonly used languages.  Due to the British importing labour from other countries during its period, Malaysia is mostly an ethnic mix of Malays, Chinese and Indians.  Malays are seen as the original people, and are mostly Muslim.  They make up around 60% of the population, with Chinese at around 30% and Indians 10%.  So the country is a mix of cultures, religions, and people with a decent amount of tolerance and support for everyone.  Malaysia has been developing rapidly over the last few decades, and the major cities are very modern.

As for Hijrah to Malaysia, I have noticed recently that there seems to be a lot of interest in people from all parts of the world who see Malaysia as a good destination.  This includes people living in north america, Africa, Muslim countries, and other places.  Malaysia may be one of the easier countries to move to, in terms of immigration, from the various Muslim majority countries that are out there.  The stability, lack of religious oppression, development status, and economic status are all draw factors for this.

For economic opportunities, finding a job as a foreigner can be a bit difficult at times.  Certain sectors may be easier, such as information technology.  There has been a bit push to bring IT companies here (with much success), by providing many incentives.  One of which is the ease of restrictions on hiring foreign workers through MSC status companies.  Otherwise, for entrepreneurs, setting up a company in Malaysia seems to have some entry requirements and partnering with a local citizen to get started.  I have found some interesting details on setting up Labuan based companies which looks like it is much easier, and more helpful in terms of getting visas as well.  Labuan is a small tax free special economic island in east Malaysia.  You can search for Labuan company setup and find many service provider sites that point out the differences and requirements.  As for other work, you can try checking the most common Malaysia job search sites.

One way to enter the country for long term stays, for higher net worth individuals that are not looking for work in Malaysia, is the Malaysia my second home program.  This program is designed for people that want to have long term stays in the country with property ownership.  The entry requirements look a bit high, though I have heard that some people are able to get on the program without meeting a lot of them.

As for Islamic practice here, there is little in the way of barriers.  Masjids and surau's can be found everywhere.  Halal food is widely available.  Dawah and education are wide spread.  There are some cultural and innovative practices here that are difficult to address with the locals, but on the whole the situation here is pretty good.  You can find more details in this forum.