Five questions about Malaysia – Quick Quiz answers

By Kay McMahon, 27 September 2011

We asked you five quick trivia questions about Malaysia. Here are the answers:

1. Malaysia held the record for the world’s tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004. These twin towers still hold the record for being the world’s tallest twin buildings. What is the name of these twin towers?
   The Petronas Towers – named after Malaysia’s state oil company (Petroleum Nasional Berhad). Their claim to the record was controversial as it relied on decorative spires on top of the towers; by simple ground-to-roof measurement, they fell short of the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower) in Chicago and the World Trade Center in New York by several tens of metres.
2. In terms of population, and taking administrative boundaries into account, what is the largest city in Malaysia?
   You’d naturally assume it must be Kuala Lumpur, wouldn’t you? But in fact although the Klang Valley conurbation around KL is easily the largest in Malaysia – it accounts for roughly a quarter of the country’s population of 28 million – the largest single administrative city is now the suburb of Subang Jaya, which overtook KL proper in 2010, having been just a fifteenth of KL’s size in 1991.
3. To date, Malaysian athletes have won a total of four Olympic medals – all for which sport?
   Badminton. Many Malaysians love badminton, with thousands turning up to matches. To date, only three countries have won badminton’s premier tournament for men, the Thomas Cup founded in 1948. Malaysia (as Malaya) won the first three tournaments, and again in 1967 and 1992; Indonesia and China have won all the rest.
4. What is the name of the luxury railway service that connects Kuala Lumpur with Singapore and Bangkok?
   It’s the Eastern & Oriental Express, a sister service to the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express. Inaugurated in September 1993, the service takes three nights and two days to travel – sedately, and in exquisite luxury – between Singapore’s Woodlands Station and Bangkok’s Hualamphong Station.
5. Where was the first centre of European-style banking in Malaysia situated?
   The answer to that question’s a little bit complicated because of the complex reorganisation of the various settlements and sultanates within what was collectively known as British Malaya. The first branch of Standard Chartered Bank in British Malaya actually opened in Singapore in 1861. However, the first in Malaysia’s present-day boundaries opened in Penang in 1875, followed by HSBC in 1885.

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