Jay and Jena Vee Smith: Touring Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur West Malaysia

We spent three days in West Malaysia with Elder Richard and Sister Norma Smith. This couple has been in Asia since February. They are doing very well. The next blog tells more about them as we travelled to see humanitarian projects. Malaysia is divided into two major areas: the Malay Peninsula or West Malaysia and Northern Borneo or East Malaysia. They are separated by several hundred miles of water. West Malaysia is the most developed of the two areas though East Malaysia is larger in geographical area. The government is divided into 13 states with a member of royalty as the head in most states. 11 states are in West Malaysia; 2 are in East Malaysia. The government is described as a democratic royalty. The heads of the states who are royalty form a group from which the king is chosen for a 5 year period. When the 5 years is over, the next in line takes his turn. The English ruled this area for many years, so the active government is organized more like Great Britain with a Prime Minister at the head and legislative houses.

There are several ethnic groups reflective of the many different immigrants through the last 400 years. The leadership is mainly Malay, or Muslim, with Chinese also occupying leadership roles in business. Indian (India) and native tribes constitute the rest of the population. There are three independent federal territories, the most famous of which is Kuala Lumpur (KL), a separate entity of its own. This is a very modern city with tall buildings, a rapid transit system, and a bustling economy. It is surrounded by the State of Selangor, one of the largest in population of the 11 states in West Malaysia. Selangor is in about the middle of the Peninsula, about five hours by car from Singapore. Two new planned cities have been built in Selangor. One is where the government is centered and is called PutraJaya. (Jaya is a Malaysia word meaning "excellence". The other is CyberJaya where many new electronic businesses are housed. Surrounding Kuala Lumpur are many suburbs where most of the people live. We stayed in PetalingJaya or PJ, a large suburb south of KL Our hotel was the PJ Hilton. There are also many tall buildings in PJ.

West Malaysia is a land of many faces. The eastern states border the South China Sea and have some of the most beautiful reefs and places for scuba diving in the world. Tourist trade is a big part of their economy. The major crop is the Palm Tree, with palm oil being the major export. They also grow rice as a staple. We took a taxi from and to the airport and saw many suburban areas, acres of palm trees, and a very modern highway system. We hired a taxi and driver to take us back to the airport on our last day. The driver was the member of the church who took us to the humanitarian projects on Friday. We went early and he took us on a tour through Kuala Lumpur and PutraJaya on the way to the airport. Some of the following pictures came on that fast tour.

The four Smiths enjoyed a wonderful three days together teaching and visiting humanitarian projects.

This is one of many groves of palm trees we saw on the way to the airport (20 km South of KL). The palm oil comes from the fruit of the trees.

One lunch time we had a picnic in a nearby park. While we were there, a nearby school let out and we were able to visit with several of the students. This girl took the picture of the four Smiths that started this blog. She spoke English. All students take Malay and English in school.

The students were very friendly and outgoing. We especially related to the young women.

Our Taxi driver, Anthony. He is an Indian and joined the Church a year ago. His wife is not a member. He was a real help to us.

This is a view from our hotel window. A lot of development over the past twenty years.

A beautiful city with well designed streets and park areas. Not many motorcycles. Lots of cars. Difficult for pedestrians in PJ. No cross walks. You just wait for a lull in traffic and sprint across the street. Pretty scary. The Smiths do it regularly as they walk to their church from their apartment on the 20th floor of a building next to a large mall. (The church is about 5 blocks away.)

One of the trademark buildings of KL is "The Towers". While we were there, another couple from our office in Hong Kong drove up with the District President to see the same thing. We knew they were going to be in the area conducting a career workshop, but they were going to be in KL and we were in PJ. We were pleased to meet in our 5 minute window and get this picture. Elder and Sister Gibbons from Centerville, Utah. Sister Gibbons is the "mission miracle" Sister that puts up Sister Smith's hair each week. They are a very special couple. They will be here until February. We will surely miss them when they go.

The towers have a walkway between the two buildings that apparently provides a beautiful view of the city. You can see the connection in this picture.

The entrance into PutraJaya has several beautiful multi-spanned bridges across the artificial lake that has been created. This is a picture of the largest one.