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GENERAL
According to the Constitution, Islam is the
religion of the Malaysian Federation. However, the Constitution
also provides that every person has the right to profess and practice
his own religion, and also has the right to propagate his faith,
although the right to propagate other religions is not permitted
by law amongst persons who are Muslims. Under the provisions for
the freedom of religion, the Constitution states the following:
That no person may be compelled to pay any tax, the proceeds of
which are allocated in whole or part for the purpose of any religion
other than his own. That every religious group has the right to
manage its own religious affairs to establish and maintain institutions
for religious and charitable purposes, and to acquire and hold property,
and administer it in accordance with the law.
ISLAM
Islam
is primarily identified with the Malays, although there are a considerable
number of non-Malays (i.e. particularly Muslim Indians, and also
Chinese, Kadazan and others). It forms the largest single religious
group in the country.
The earliest evidence of the presence of Islam in Southeast Asia
comes from near Gerisik in Java from the tomb of a Muslim merchant
dated AD 1082. In Malaysia itself, the earliest evidence comes from
the famous inscription from Kuala Brang in Terengganu which, dated
to the fourteenth century, precedes the Melaka sultanate.
These and other corroborative evidence such as isolated finds and
travelers reports make it clear that the main avenue for the coming
of Islam to the region was by trade. Arab traders had been calling
at the southern Chinese port of Canton since the eighth century
AD, leaving traces of their influence on the way. The number of
Muslim traders coming to Southeast Asia greatly increased with the
conversion of the powerful kingdom of Gujerat on India's Malabar
coast to Islam at the end of the thirteenth century, and around
about the same time Islam had established a firm foothold in North
Sumatra hence the new religion was carried to the fledgling port
of Melaka.
CHRISTIANITY
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| Sacred Heart Catholic Cathedral Church |
International trade in early times played
a key role in bringing Christianity to this part of the world. Some
Persian traders were Nestorian Christians. There is literary evidence
that there was a trading community of these Christians on the Malay
Peninsula either in Kedah or modern day Klang. Later in the middle
ages, Catholic diplomats, travellers and priests travelled through
the Straits en route to China. Among the traders resident in Melaka
during the Melaka Sultanate in the 15th century were Nestorian and
also Armenian Christians from what is today Eastern Turkey. Churches
were established in the area with the coming of the Portuguese in
1511, the Dutch in 1641 and the British in 1786. However, in this
early period the Christian community was still largely an expatriate
community. The l9th and 20th centuries saw greater Christian influence
among locals.
Chinese Christians sometimes migrated as communities as in the case
of Basel Mission Hakkas to Sabah and Methodist Foochows to Sibu,
Sarawak and Sitiawan, Perak. Christian missionaries played a key
role in the field of education and medical services by establishing
schools and hospitals in various parts of the country.
With the country's independence in 1957, the churches also underwent
its own process of nationalization. Foreign missionaries could only
have their visas renewed up to a total of ten years. At the same
time, relatively few visas were granted to new missionaries. This
forced the churches to nurture local leaders. Today, the Christian
Church in Malaysia is by and large local in leadership, membership
and finance: The Christian population is estimated at about one
million or six per cent of the national population. In a major initiative
taken in 1985, the heads of churches from the different church traditions
present in the country voluntarily came together and established
a national Christian body.
For more information please refer to
http://www.antioch.com.sg/my/
BUDDHISM
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| Puu Jih Shin Buddhist temple, Sandakan |
Photo:
Y.M.Kung
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Undoubtedly amongst the religions followed
in Malaysia in terms of numbers and importance comes Buddhism. Buddhism
is largely identified with the Chinese. The presence of Chinese Buddhism
in the region dates back to at least the beginning of the ninth century
AD when the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim, I Tsing, reported that the capital
of the maritime empire of Sri Vijaya (i.e. Palembang in Sumatra) was
a great centre of Buddhist studies. Occasional Buddhist relics dating
from around the same period have been found in Perak and Kedah, although
their provenance is uncertain. Buddhism no doubt first took permanent
root in Malaysia with the establishment of the Chinese community in
Melaka in the fifteenth century.
Source : The Information Malaysia Yearbook (1996) |
