A seemingly hidden gem within Kuala Lumpur is the National Museum of Malaysia – Muzium Negara. For whatever reason, the museum is not as widely touted as other attractions within the city, but it is certainly worth a visit. Compared to the National Museum of Korea, it’s smaller, but that doesn’t mean that this museum didn’t still pack a punch.

National Museum of Malaysia Day Trip

Getting In

We arrived via Uber shortly after noon and began our National Museum of Malaysia day trip with a walk through the grounds. But, we needed to use the bathroom first before anything, and we ran into the first case of having to pay for toilet use – rather disappointing considering this is the national museum – and being charged extra for toilet paper. The toilets were also not the cleanest facilities we’ve seen – no horror shows like we’d read to expect luckily though.

Anything To Eat?

We were also quite hungry, without having eaten anything, we were pretty eager to get some food. So we decided to check out the museum cafeteria. They offered the standard fare we’ve come to expect here in Malaysia: a plate of rice where you pour various meats and curries on top.

While this would have been fine for me, Briana couldn’t have any of it because none of it looked vegetarian. So Briana attempted to order french fries from their menu – to which they seemed to have no clue what she was talking about. Pointing to their menu didn’t help, and the people operating the cafeteria seemed to have a rather poor grasp of English.

Ultimately, we decided to just walk out hungry because we couldn’t trust the place and get food we wanted. Oddly, we’ve noticed that many restaurants here in Malaysia will have a menu which has nothing to do with what they actually serve. It will seem as if only half of the menu is available, the other half is completely foreign to them, and then there is a secret menu that is not written or in any way advertised which is actually the food they serve – we just don’t get it.

But, the food really isn’t the important part of this, nor the reason we came. It was for the museum. Tickets for non-locals are 5 RM, which really is a pretty good deal (~$1.25). After getting our tickets, we proceeded inside the building.

Well Organized With Plenty To See

The museum is a pretty simple place, and easy to navigate. It is divided into 4 sections, 2 sections on each of its 2 floors. On the first floor, you’ll find the Early History and Governments of Malay exhibits. On the second floor, you’ll find the Colonial Era and Modern Day Malaysia exhibits.

The early history is very interesting, giving a brief lesson on the pre-historic aspects of the Malaysian peninsula and archipelago, and how people migrated during the last ice-age. Many ancient artifacts and skeletons were on display here. There were a few subtle effects that really helped sell the atmosphere – namely background sound effects that would be related to the specific display. It wouldn’t be distracting, just enough to help put you in the moment.

The governments exhibit dove into the more medieval era of Malaysia. Here you could see how the people turned themselves into a powerful kingdom. There were various weapons – most notably Kris – and armors as well as textiles and even a throne. 

At this point in our journey, hunger overcame us a little, so Briana broke into the backpack to finish off some mixed nuts. It wasn’t much, but it helped a little as we climbed the stairs to check out the second floor. It is worth noting that you aren’t allowed to have food or eat while in the museum, so we tried to do this secretly out of view of cameras and away from the exhibits themselves.

Malaysia Has Seen Many Colonizers

Here in the colonial exhibit, we could see how early European explorers had a heavy hand in shaping Malaysia. First the Portuguese, and then the British placed Malaysia under colonial rule. Exploitation of rubber and coconut plantations led to struggles to control Malaysia. As we’ve noticed in Asia, Japan also had a pretty brutal bout of command and conquer in the region.

A Look At Modern Malaysia

The last section covered the modern history of Malaysia from its creation shortly after WWII until today. Here we were able to see how the current government came to be, how it functions, as well explanations to certain aspects of the country (such as the flag, multiculturalism, and it’s 13 states).

We also looked at some of the regional clothing over time.

While we could have stayed a bit longer, hunger was really causing us to lose focus. So we proceeded on our way. We spent around 2 hours there, but if you really take your time you could extend a visit to 3 hours easily.

As well, there is a temporary exhibit in a hall outside of the main building. We did not visit it, although it looked like it was an exhibit of Arabic Ouds which really intrigued me. This area changes throughout the year.

Visiting

• Hours – Open every day from 9 AM to 6 PM.
• Holidays – Closes on the first day of Eid and Eid al-Adha.
• Address – Jabatan Muzium Malaysia, Jalan Damansara, Tasik Perdana, 50566 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan

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