Malaysia operates on Malaysia Standard Time (MYT), which is 8 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+8). Both Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo) follow the same timezone and do not observe daylight saving time.
Major cities including Kuala Lumpur, George Town, Johor Bahru, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu all follow MYT. Malaysia shares its timezone with China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Philippines.
Malaysia unified its timezones in 1982 when East Malaysia moved from UTC+7:30 to UTC+8 to match the peninsula. Interestingly, Malaysia's geographical position suggests UTC+7 would be more natural, but UTC+8 was chosen for economic alignment with Singapore and Hong Kong. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur were the world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004.