Malaysia covers a land area of 332,556 km’ comprising two regions, Peninsular Malaysia and the States of Sarawak and Sabah. The territorial waters of Malaysia total about 150,000 km’ while the EEZ extends another 450,000 km2 (based on the 200 nautical miles or 312 km limit). In addition, there are about 1007 islands located in the coastal waters of Malaysia of which 544 are located in Peninsular Malaysia, 397 in Sabah and 66 in Sarawak
Malaysia has about 4,800 km of coastline comprising two distinctly different physical formations, namely the mangrove-fringed mud flats and sandy beaches. The east coast of Peninsular Malaysia consists of straight sandy formations in the north and a series of hook- or spiral-shaped bays to the south. The west coast of Peninsular Malaysia, however, comprises mainly muddy formations, with limited areas of pocket sandy beaches. In Sarawak and Sabah, the coastlines are about equally divided between sandy beaches and mud coast.
The coastal zone is broadly defined as the areas where terrestrial and marine processes interact. These include the coastal plains, deltaic areas, coastal wetlands. estuaries and lagoons. It is difficult to demarcate a fixed geographical limit on the coastal zone due to the complex interaction and inter-dependence of fluvial and coastal processes.
What I found interesting of the state boundaries is that there are no landlocked states in Malaysia - each state has access to the sea. Historically, this makes sense, as the sea trade was important in the rise of the ancient kingdoms from which our states thrived. Let us look at the coast lines of each individual states in Malaysia (sorry to the Federal Territories!), from North to South.
These are the states of Peninsular Malaysia.
Now we fly EAST...
Can you hear the coast line calling your name?
