malaysian ethnicity, religion, and language ...

before coming here, i couldn't picture what a 'typical' Malaysian person looked like ... and i was right! it really is a mish-mash:

Ethnic Origin: 50% Malay, 33% Chinese, 9% Indian, 2% indigenous tribes ...
Religion: 52% Muslim, 17% Buddhist, 12% Taoist, 8% Christian, 8% Hindu, 2% tribal ...

in general, the ethnic groups send their children to separate primary schools (Chinese children study in Mandarin, Indians in Tamil, etc.) then for high school, the cultures unite and they study in Malay and English. in my classroom, if two Chinese people are speaking they will converse in Mandarin ... if a Malay enters the conversation they automatically switch to English ...