The Malay Peninsula and northern Borneo have always been a highly coveted prize, offering control of trade through the Straits of Malacca, an abundance of natural resources and the link between the Indonesian archipelago and mainland Asia.
Powerful empires from surrounding countries all took their turns to invade before Arab and European traders chose this as the place to establish their first colonies in Southeast Asia. This complex history has created a multicultural society which has one foot in the developing world and the other in oil wealth and high-tech modern industry.
