Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with malaysia

Anxyliotics for draconian drug laws in S E Asia?

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 08:06:02 -0800

Can I take my benzos in transit through KL international airport? I will be catching a connecting flight through Malaysia and want to know whether I will be able to bring prescription drugs safely. I am aware of arrests of drug smugglers who were just passing through Malaysian and Singaporean airports as well as the problems people such as Grooverider have experienced in similarly draconian countries such as Dubai. I also appreciate that, if in doubt, it's best not to take a risk.

Regardless, I want to know if there is a substantial difference between carrying illicit drugs and medicines through the airport. I have a flight connection at Malaysia and want to know whether am I actually allowed to bring my benzos with me. How risky actually is it? Will I need to bring a valid prescription or will that not help me. Or is it fine as long as I am bringing obviously legit medicine rather than unlabelled baggies of loose powder. For obvious reasons I'd rather avoid any run-in with the authorities but part of me has to believe that the drug laws are vaguely reasonable with respect to medicines.

Travel Options w/a RT Ticket to Kuala Lumpur

gov_moonbeam — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:08:44 -0800

I jumped on a super cheap ticket on Air China to Kuala Lumpur next Spring. It'll be my first time in Asia and I have about 10 days. Should I stick to Malaysia & Singapore or is it worth it looking at other locations I can fly to from the airport? My #1 addiction is travel and after doing Peace Corps in the Caribbean and visiting almost all of Latin America, I'm ready to move on to a new part of the world. I've just bought a really cheap ticket on Air China to Kuala Lumpur in late April 2010. From what I've been told, Malaysia and Singapore are good "starter" countries for getting your feet wet in Asia.

I'm in the preliminary stages of reading about both places, but would love to hear from people who've been there. Having done exhaustive "hit every town on the tourist/backpacker route" trips before, I would rather be low key in my travels. So I'm hoping for advice from people who've either been there or who live there. Would you stick to Malaysia and Singapore or is it worth it seeing what other locations I can fly to out of KL? And if I just spent my time in M & S, what are the big "tourist traps*" that I could easily skip? I like wandering around and just getting a sense of people's lives in a place. And obviously I wouldn't have thought about the ticket i the first place if I didn't have an interest in street food. Also I love going to museums and being outdoors/hiking. I have one friend of a friend who lives in KL as a contact, but I'd love to hear from other people's experiences.

* I went to Brazil 3 years ago and thinking that speaking only Spanish would be a problem, I signed up for a tour through GAP Adventures. I really regret this decision because we hit all of the high cost "gringo route" locations in the country, plus the group I was with mostly cared about partying/finding the local disco. I didn't really feel like I'd had the experience of what life is actually like in that country outside of the hostel/backpack bubble.

Help me find Kaya (coconut milk spread from Malaysia) in Seattle, WA or the US.

dcruzin — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 11:09:13 -0800

Where can I find this delicious Malaysian Coconut Milk Spread called "Kaya King" in Seattle, WA or anywhere else in the United States/Canada? My friend brought me back this amazing coconut milk spread from Malaysia that is great on toast called "kaya" that's made by the company "Kaya King."

I live in Seattle, WA. Where can I buy this either locally or get it shipped to me or imported?

Any leads/tips or friendly people who live in Malaysia welcome :)

It's also distributed in Singapore.

Where to spend a 4-day weekend in SE Asia?

cosmonaught — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 04:54:07 -0800

I've found myself in SE Asia (KL, Malaysia) with a 4-day weekend (because of Raya) and nothing to do. I'm thinking I probably should travel somewhere, but really not sure where. Where is a good place for a solo traveler to go in the area (the area being anywhere in the eastern hemisphere I can get in a reasonable amount of time)? Cheap is good, but not essential.

Borneo Vacation

ChloeMills — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:18:48 -0800

Looking for great tours/ in Sabah, Malaysia Borneo? I've been to Sabah once before. So I am trying to find tours that don't include all the stuff I've done already and some things that are a little further out.

I only have about 7-9 days and I'd like to go to Danum Valley AND Tabin (not one or the other!), as well as 2-3 days of scuba diving at Sipidan/Mabul.

It seems like I should be able to do this. But having a hard time booking things - as they all seem to include city tours and many things I've done already.

I don't want to drive anywhere myself or rent a car.

Let me know if anyone has been/has any good suggestions.

Am I technically a Malaysian citizen?

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 09:36:09 -0800

Help me solve a mystery about myself: Am I an unknowing citizen of Malaysia? The kerfuffle over President Obama's birthplace has me wondering about my status, and whether I may be an unknowing dual citizen of both the US and Malaysia. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1979, a circumstance that enabled my US-born brothers to make me cry by telling me I couldn't be President of the United States of America. Although I was born in Malaysia, I am a US citizen jus sanguinis, and assume I am a "natural born citizen" à la John McCain.

The Department of State notes the following:
Dual Nationality: Malaysia does not recognize or permit dual nationality. If Malaysian authorities learn that an American citizen is also a citizen of Malaysia, they may require that the dual national either renounce U.S. citizenship immediately or forfeit Malaysian citizenship. Dual American/Malaysian citizens should consider this issue seriously before traveling to Malaysia.

However, that seems to mean that if I am a Malaysian citizen, I would remain so until I revoked that status.

Pertinent information:
- My parents were both U.S. Citizens who had relocated the family to Malaysia because one was a Peace Corps director.
- My family lived in Malaysia for about 2 years prior to my birth, but my parents don't know whether they had permanent residency status there.
- The family stayed something like 6 months after my birth before moving back to the States.

My US birth certificate (Form FS-545 1-73) header reads:

Department of State
Foreign Service of the United States of America
Certification of Birth Abroad
of a Citizen of the United States of America

The report of birth was recorded on March 28, 1979.

I also have a barely legible copy of the Malay document used to register my birth with the USFS. A chunk of the text is typed out below, with the number at the top (E 000000) fudged for obscurity, as it seems unwise to broadcast all my birth info across the Internets.

E 000000

(B. & M. 21)

BORANG A
NEGERI-NEGERI TANAH MELAYU
PERAKUAN BERANAK
(Salinana untuk Orang yang memberitahu)
Ordinan Pendaftaran Beranak dan Mati, 1957
[Seksyen 14, Aturan 7]

WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN

Kawasan Pendaftaran [something illegible stamped/written here]

Kawasan-kecil [ My name, etc...]

[Here, information about dates, addresses, parents]

Diperakui sebagai cabutan yang benar dari catitan dalam
Daftar Beranak.

[signature]

Tandatangan dan Lawatan [illegible]

Some Mefites would recognize my story because I told it to them in person; thanks in advance for not outing me online. :)

Move to Kuala Lumpur?

cosmonaught — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:26:29 -0800

Should I move to Malaysia (KL) for a year? It looks like I may have the opportunity to take a 1 year assignment in KL for my job (I live in the US). The dollars-and-cents and career stuff make sense, but really, everything I know about Malaysia comes from either No Reservations or Tomorrow Never Dies.

I'm currently leaning towards going, but mostly based on a "why not" rational. Anything pro or con I should feed into my decision? Any must have factors that I should look for in a relo-package? (e.g. a car is necessary, make sure you're getting an apartment/house in X area, etc.)

Bonus Questions:
If I do go, must see/do/go/eat things?
Any advice on using KL as a launching point for traveling to other places in SE Asia as well as possibly Japan and Korea?

I have seen the suggestions here and here.

Book about Islam and intellectualism, what's the title?

divabat — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:13:10 -0800

I'm trying to find a book about Islam and intellectualism. I can remember the cover, and the content - but not the title or the author. Gah! The book was written by a Pakistani based in the UK. The book starts off with him explaining how he often has to fend off the people from the nearby mosque that always want to recruit him and a family member, but one time he decides to say "Yes" to see what they're about.

This leads him to an international journey about different ways Islam manifests itself around the world. He's more concerned with how people use their interpretations of Islam for political gain. There's a section about how Saddam Hussein was part of a political party that wanted Arab unity without concern for religion, and an encounter with a friend/relative in Iran who gets frustrated with his questions.

Later on in the book he details his experience of running an Islamic intellectualism magazine/organisation in Kuala Lumpur that lasted a few years, but then things like race riots and 9/11 made it really difficult to push through a more rational and intellectual view of Islam. There was some talk of revisiting questions about science, humanism, and so on through the eyes of Islam. Anwar Ibrahim gets a mention.

The cover is white; it may have had a mosque and some greenery on the bottom border. The title (which probably didn't have the word "Islam") was likely
vertically
aligned
like
so.
It was published sometime after 2002-2003. It's non-fiction but not a textbook.

I got this book from our local library last year but they don't keep borrowing histories and I couldn't find it on their catalogue. Amazon, Google Books, Barnes and Noble, and even Twitter friends can't find it. It was originally meant to be just a throwaway cite, but now I've become even more motivated to find the book. Can you help?

Tax consultant with ACA qualification from UK looking to work in Malaysia

ianK — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:05:12 -0800

What are the working opportunities for tax consultants with ACA qualification in the UK looking to emigrate to Malaysia? My girlfriend is currently working as a tax assistant consultant in the UK, studying for the ACA qualification in the meantime, with one more year to qualify.

She would like to emigrate to Malaysia, but worries that by working in tax in the UK, she wouldn't have many transferable skills and experiences, assuming the tax rules in Malaysia to be quite different from in the UK.

How can she best prepare to be recruitable in Malaysia. What field is more desirable in the accountancy profession there?

Youth Passions Research in Montreal

divabat — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:11:25 -0800

If you had one year to dedicate yourself to researching how young people's passions and interests can be supported and encouraged, what would you do? Bonus points for Montreal-related responses. I'm planning to apply to the Sauve Scholars program, a one-year fellowship based in McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where you are given full support and resources to research, study, and work on a project of your choice. I would like to use the year to come up with a project plan for resources that help young people find support for their passions and interests - mainly from a Malaysian perspective, as there's nothing there, but involving research into how young people are supported in other countries.

We need to come up with a plan for our project - what we want to investigate, how we're going to go about it, how we can use local resources to help us. With a topic like this, it can be pretty broad, so I'd like some ideas for actions I can take to support my research for this one year.
I'm planning to apply to the Sauve Scholars program, a one-year fellowship based in McGill University in Montreal, Canada, where you are given full support and resources to research, study, and work on a project of your choice. I would like to use the year to come up with a project plan for resources that help young people find support for their passions and interests - mainly from a Malaysian perspective, as there's nothing there, but involving research into how young people are supported in other countries.

We need to come up with a plan for our project - what we want to investigate, how we're going to go about it, how we can use local resources to help us. With a topic like this, it can be pretty broad, so I'd like some ideas for actions I can take to support my research for this one year.

If you had one year to dedicate yourself to researching how young people's passions and interests can be supported and encouraged, what would you do?

What sort of research would you do? Who would you want to look up? Where would you volunteer or work? I don't expect specific names (Though that'd be great!!) but things like "You should look up what their relevant youth policy is and find government agencies that work with young people" or "Find a Malaysian Students Society to interview" are the things I'm after. If you've worked in a venture that does exactly this (support young people's passions), what sort of work did you do to form and maintain your venture?

I've been getting a lot of "ask the young people themselves", which is what I'm doing too, but that's not something I need the fellowship to do. I'm more interested in finding out what resources are available in Montreal/McGill that I can tap into.

10 Days to Kill in Kuala Lumpur...

rokusan — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:01:43 -0800

Kuala Lumpur Time-Killing Help Needed It's one of those questions again, and I searched the old ones to no avail.

I'm in Kuala Lumpur for 10 days next month (Oct), and I know nothing about the place.

I'll take suggestions on restaurants, can't-get-it-elsewhere shopping, interesting sights (I like walks), and pretty much anything. I'm traveling alone and don't have any non-work contacts.

No real time or interest in beaches or surfing etc (is it even the season?)

I'm doing some on-site consulting type work but it's very loose (basically hanging around giving my opinion as needed, kind of like MeFi!) so I'll have some daytimes free, as well as two weekends and most evenings.

Managing an Anothology Project

divabat — Fri, 30 May 2008 03:16:08 -0800

What should I take into consideration when spearheading an anthology project? What resources are out there for us? I'm organizing a book project to collect real-life stories related to the Others (non-Malay/Chinese/Indian, classified as "Other" on all official documentation) in Malaysia. This only started a few days ago, so it's all planning at this stage, but currently I've built up a great team and we're discussing issues on content, definitions, research, publication, and publicity.

While some of us in the group have some experience with publishing (as a writer, editor, or just part of the process somehow), none of us really have that much experience in starting, organizing, and managing such a project. I'm doing quite a bit of brainstorming to work out what we need to consider, but would like some ideas and tips in case I left anything out.

1. Publication - I've contacted a well-known socially-conscious (and somewhat alternative, but great for our target audience) local publisher, who is interested in looking at our manuscript when we're done. Their advice was to "just do it". This is great, but I'd also like Plans B, C, D, Etc.

How else can we find possible publishers, what should we look for in a publisher, and what should we ask them? Some in our group have suggested self-publishing - what should we take into consideration about this option? What other alternative options are there? (Malaysians, particularly our target readers, are quite web-savvy, but it is a bit difficult to purchase online due to Paypal/bank restrictions.)

2. Rights - how do we manage rights and contracts with contributors? I would like the contributors to keep the copyright to their works (and give an option for a Creative Commons license), but would this be a good idea overall? We're planning on field interviews (to get stories from people who won't necessarily write their own tales, such as older folk) and may possibly deal with translations - who gets the rights to those?

3. Finances - assuming we make money out of this, what would we do with the money? I don't think we'll ever make enough to pay each contributor individually (though that would be great!!). Donating the proceeds to an NGO would be great, but our topic is in-between niche and general and there isn't a specific NGO for Malaysian Others yet.

Also, I've heard a lot about how we shouldn't pay to get something published. If we're getting published through an established publisher, are there any costs we still have to look out for? We're thinking of possibly getting sponsorship - is it worth it? Would we need sponsorship? (Perhaps to cover costs of research and compilation?) Where would be good resources for money?

4. Timelines - what's a typical timeline for this project? I was thinking 6 months - get the Call for Submissions and guidelines ready within 3-4 weeks, get submissions for about 3-4 months, edit and compile and get everything ready for publication by Month 6. Is that realistic, or too short? What's normal?

5. Team needs - currently I'm scouting people for editorials, research/field interviews, publicity/promotions, website management, and logistics/finance/publishing. What other skills and roles would we need for a project like this?

Are there any resources for managing a project like this? I've seen plenty of books and articles on non-fiction writing, but those tend to assume you're the sole writer. Any resources on managing anthologies?

Thanks so much!

What is the cheapest and safest way to send a package to Malaysia with the assurance that it will get to the intended recipient?

Jujee — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:10:08 -0800

My sister wants to send a package to someone in Malaysia -specifically in Selangor - however, it seems packages don't always make it to the recipient for whatever reason. She is sending photographs and wants to be sure it gets to the recipient - any tips out there? What is the safest and least expensive way to send it (more photographs)? TIA

Help me find this Malay snack

amtho — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:35:53 -0800

Savory Malaysian soybean bar a co-worker brought from home > 10 years ago. It wasn't too spicy-hot. It was made in a pan and cut into squares like brownies; individual soybeans were discernable. I'm pretty sure it wasn't fermented. I want to make it or something very like it. Anybody know a recipe, or what it's called?

Make me want to go to Asia.

djstig — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:18:35 -0800

Make me want to go to Asia. Next summer I will be heading off to Singapore for a really good friends wedding, however it is only for a couple of days. The vague problem is that most of the other friends of the wedding party are planning on travelling around that part of the world for a few weeks afterwards.

However I have had very little interest in looking to travel in that part of the world. As in Malaysia, Burma, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia etc. So I am asking the Uncle Travelling Matt types of AskMe to sell Asia to me.

Interests include walking, swimming, historic sites, food that kind of thing. All of which I know are plentiful around those parts, but because I've not ever fancied Asia then I'm kind of clueless.

Cultural learnings of America for make benefit of self: How can an Asian girl gain some North American experience?

Karcy — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 00:27:40 -0800

I'm a Malaysian in my mid-twenties looking for non-academic opportunities to live in North America on a short-term basis. How can I do this? It's a popular phase of a (middle-class) person's life here to 'go overseas' (usually to a Western country) before coming home to settle down, but for reasons I don't want to go into here, it's something I haven't been able to do.

I know that it's primarily a self-esteem issue, but somehow, I feel perpetually discontent due to having never been able to live in a Western country when plenty of other people around me (either due to wealth, number of opportunities, or just plain luck) have done so. So instead of sitting and moping, I've decided to hunt for possible opportunities, and I was wondering if MeFi could help me with this.

I'm looking for things like cultural exchange programmes, volunteer work, internships, or something of that sort -- something that I can dedicate myself to for about a year or more, before returning to Malaysia. I'm doing my homework looking up academic opportunities in the United States and Canada. What I'd like to know more about are possible opportunities to experience North America *outside* of academic life, and info about stuff like that is usually word-of-mouth.

(What I'm not looking for is a green card or blue-collar work; my interests in going to North America aren't economic)

I'm an English major. Currently working on my Masters (also in English), will probably finish it in a year's time. Christian, so religious programmes are fine with me. Female.

Entertain me in KL!

kaydo — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 16:59:24 -0800

[malaysia filter] I'll probably be in Kuala Lumpur at the end of the month for about 3 days. I'm looking for something fun to do that I might not have done having been there before. There's This will be my 4th trip to KL in the last 3 years, and my last trip was only about 3 months ago. This trip is unusally short, but I'd still like to make the most of it. I'll be arriving in KL on a weekday afternoon, and have to work on the Thursday and Friday during the day. That leaves the nights free, and part of the weekend. I have to get back home (8hr flight) on the Monday night at the latest. Any interesting things I may have missed in my previous KL ventures? Any must-do side trips or other recommendations?

I spent ages researching before my last 3 week trip to KL, but most things appear to be targeted at people making more than just a fleeting visit. As a guide, I've done way too much shopping and seen most of the sights of KLCC in previous visits (which could be fun again!). I'm staying near KLCC.

Record of my life (well, just one year)

arcticwoman — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:46:00 -0800

Help putting together an online record of my year as an exchange student. Specifically, my questions inside deal with: what media (blog, wiki, lj, flickr, website?) how to deal with different materials (diary, emails, photos, memories) and a legal question regarding the association that sent me. In 2000/2001 I was a long-term youth exchange student to Malaysia with a particular service organization. I was thinking about my year abroad and realized that if I don't do something now to preserve and organize my memories they will be lost. My diary has already suffered some water damage and parts of it are unreadable, and years of shuffling around has meant that my photos are all out of order and some have disappeared. So I want to get everything together in a virtual format that will withstand physical damage and will make it easy for me to search particular events/photos. Also important is that it is in a form that I can share with my family and friends.

I have: a damaged diary
a few old livejournal posts
emails that I sent to my mother and her replies
photos
pamphlets
postcards
cookbooks/loose recipes
other scraps (from conferences, movie tickets, song lyrics/)

What can I do with all this? How can I organize it all online in a coherent order?

Finally, my legal-ish question: I didn't actually have a good year abroad and I have a lot of negative feelings and opinions about the organization that sent me. Do I need to hide the name of this organization under a pseudonym, or can I be candid? Not all of my opinions on this group are bad, and it is possible that in a few years I may even try to join. Is writing about how they let me down going to be problematic?

Backpacker Nirvana?

0bvious — Mon, 29 May 2006 22:43:58 -0800

Know any good travelling websites? Most specifically for backpacking in Asia... I am going to hit up SE Asia this August, hopefully for a few months, and am looking for some great resources for planning my trip.

A backpackers message board / forum would also be great, specifically one which hooks up lone travellers into potential groups.

Any SE Asia hints in general will be gladly accepted (I am travelling starting in Japan - see previous MeFi-question)