The nation of Malaysia is in two parts: Peninsular Malaysia (also called West Malaysia or Malaya) on the southern end of the Malay Peninsula and Malaysian Borneo (East Malaysia) on the island of Borneo roughly 700 km (450 mi) to the east. West Malaysia is the former Federation of Malaya, a union of 11 states placed under British protectorate in the late 1800s. The Federation of Malaya became independent in 1957 and in 1963 the federation became Malaysia, a new country formed by uniting Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah (North Borneo). Singapore, a predominantly Chinese city just off the tip of the Malay Peninsula, left the union in 1965 and has been independent since. West Malaysia faces one of the world's most important waterways, often called simply The Straits. The Strait of Malacca opens westward to the Indian Ocean and separates Malaya from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. At its southeastern end, the Strait of Malacca joins the Singapore Strait, which connects to the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean. Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy consisting of thirteen states and three federal territories. This page describes lighthouses of the northeast coast of West Malaysia, facing the South China Sea in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu. Because international shipping lanes are far offshore in the South China Sea no major lighthouses were built on Malaya's east coast during the British Colonial period; with few exceptions the lights on this page are of relatively modern origin. The Malay term for a lighthouse is rumah api ("house of fire"); pulau is an island, terumbu is a reef, tanjung is a cape, bukit is a hill, sungai is a river, kuala is the mouth of a river, teluk is a bay, selat is a strait, and pelabuhan is a harbor. Aids to navigation in Malaysia are the responsibility of the Marine Department (Jabatan Laut). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume F of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Kelantan Lighthouses
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Terengganu Lighthouses
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Southern Thailand: East Coast | East: Natuna Sea Islands | South: Southeast West Malaysia
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Posted March 12, 2006. Checked and revised April 27, 2024. Lighthouses: 36. Site copyright 2024 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.