9 km;

Sarawak--2,518 km

_#_Ports: Tanjong Kidurong, Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Pasir Gudang,
Penang, Port Kelang, Sandakan, Tawau

_#_Merchant marine: 157 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,530,756
GRT/2,246,358 DWT; includes 1 short-sea passenger, 65 cargo, 22
container, 2 vehicle carrier, 2 roll-on/roll-off cargo, 1 livestock
carrier, 31 petroleum, oils, and lubricants (POL) tanker, 3 chemical
tanker, 6 liquefied gas, 1 passenger-cargo, 23 bulk

_#_Civil air: 53 major transport aircraft

_#_Pipelines: crude oil, 1,307 km; natural gas, 379 km

_#_Airports: 125 total, 119 usable; 32 with permanent-surface runways;
1 with runways over 3,659 m; 7 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 18 with
runways 1,220-2,439 m

_#_Telecommunications: good intercity service provided to peninsular
Malaysia mainly by microwave relay, adequate intercity radio relay
network between Sabah and Sarawak via Brunei; international service good;
good coverage by radio and television broadcasts; 994,860 telephones
(1984); stations--28 AM, 3 FM, 33 TV; submarine cables extend to India
and Sarawak; SEACOM submarine cable links to Hong Kong and Singapore;
satellite earth stations--1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT and 1 Pacific Ocean
INTELSAT, and 2 domestic

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Royal Malaysian Army, Royal Malaysian Navy, Royal
Malaysian Air Force, Royal Malaysian Police Force, Marine Police,
Sarawak Border Scouts

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 4,620,418; 2,815,910 fit for
military service; 180,991 reach military age (21) annually

_#_Defense expenditures: $1.7 billion, 3.9% of GDP (1990)
_%_
_@_Maldives
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 300 km2; land area: 300 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly more than 1.5 times the size of
Washington, DC

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: 644 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Exclusive economic zone: 35-310 nm (defined by geographic
coordinates; segment of zone coincides with maritime boundary with
India);

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Climate: tropical; hot, humid; dry, northeast monsoon (November to
March); rainy, southwest monsoon (June to August)

_#_Terrain: flat with elevations only as high as 2.5 meters

_#_Natural resources: fish

_#_Land use: arable land 10%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures
3%; forest and woodland 3%; other 84%

_#_Environment: 1,200 coral islands grouped into 19 atolls

_#_Note: archipelago of strategic location astri