Language and Religion

The official language of Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia. Well educated Malaysians and businesspeople speak English. As a multiethnic society, the English language has had a unifying effect on the country and its people. Malaysia is a secular Muslim state with Islam being the predominant religion.

Value System and Relationships

Out of 50 countries surveyed, Malaysia scores the highest on the power distance index. It is a typical collectivist culture, with a lower score on the uncertainty avoidance index. It’s very important for foreign businesspeople to develop a personal relationship with their Malaysian contacts.

Tips When Doing Business

Most business in Malaysia will be conducted by the ethnic Chinese and Indians, who have a very different system of values from the ethnic Malays. The majority of government officials are ethnic Malays, who will quickly organize the support needed for their decisions. They tend to avoid confrontations and seldom use a categorical “no”.

The Pew Global Attitudes Project is an interactive database that allows users to explore public opinion trends in 55 countries on topics ranging from attitudes towards the U.S. to peoples assessments of their own lives to views about globalization, democratization and extremism and other important issues.

Malaysia ranks as no. 47 (of 180 countries) on Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index.