A Malay translation of the Self-Description Questionnaire-1 was administered to 137 male and 163 female Malaysian public high school students aged 14 to 15 years. The SDQ-1 scales were found to have an adequate internal consistency reliability, with a median alpha of .81. Factor analysis supported the expected underlying hierarchical model. Comparison of scale scores with like aged Australians from the norming sample of Marsh (1988) indicated that the Australians and the males from both countries tended to report higher self-ratings regarding their physical abilities and appearance. These findings are similar to previous comparisons of the self-esteem of children from Australian and a number of Asian countries which may be due to an underlying cultural difference regarding masculinity and feminity.