Religions In Malaysia
Malaysians always find pride in saying that Malaysia is a multi-racial country where people from different races and religion can live together in peace and harmony. If what the Malaysians claim is true, the Constitution of Malaysia is surely a successful model of which a lot of nations in the world can learn a thing or two from. This is because the Constitution of Malaysia seemingly has solved a lot of problems arise from the differences between groups of people, especially different religious groups.
Before I continue any further, I would like to describe the few major religions in Malaysia. Firstly, there’s Islam, the official religion of Malaysia. I think it is quite safe to say that this is the religion with the most followers in Malaysia, due to the fact that Malays are Muslims. The reason? I will discuss it later. Then there’s Hinduism, of which Indians make up most of the followers, hence I think, the major religion in Malaysia with the least followers. Next will be Christianity. Christianity is surely more of a multi-racial religion in Malaysia, where the followers consist of mainly Chinese and Indians.
The finally, there is “Buddism”. “Buddism” in Malaysia is a very interesting topic which deserves a whole paragraph or two to itself. The reason I said “Buddism” as opposed to simply Buddism is because, well, in Malaysia, “Buddism” is not Buddism. In understanding this seemingly weird happening, we must first understand the Rukun Negara, or National Principles. To help refresh the memories of those who have long since left primary or secondary school, below is the Rukun Negara and its English translation.
Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan,
Kesetiaan Kepada Raja dan Negara,
Keluhuran Perlembagaan,
Kedaulatan Undang-Undang,
Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan.
Belief in God,
Loyalty to King and Country,
Supremacy of the Constitution,
Sovereignty of Law,
Courtesy and Morality.
From the National Principles alone, you can see how important it is for a Malaysian to believe in God. In fact, you can even say that Malaysian should conform to these principles and hence are somewhat “defined” to believe in God. God, I believe, in the context of the Principles, refers to the Creator who listens to your prayer, monitors your actions and thoughts, and not to forget, judge you according to your performance during your life time. One of the common things about the other major religions in Malaysia is the existence of a Supreme Being who we refer to as God. However, for the case for Buddism, there is no teaching of the Ultimate Creator. From this fact alone, I believe it is quite safe to say that Buddism is not a religion. In fact, a few year ago when I was reading Reader’s Digest, I was so shocked that Dalai Lama said “Buddism is not a religion, but a way of life.” Now, I have to say, I am sincerely sorry to have called myself a buddist.
So, what’s with “Buddism”, you may ask. In Malaysia, “Buddism” IS a religion. This is because “Buddism” consists of not only Buddism, but also some of the other, usually Chinese, beliefs which does involves a Personal God, regardless whether the issue of creation is involved or not. The God of Wealth, Dragon, or the Old Man of the Moon are just a few of the many examples I can give. Some of the followers prefer to call themselves Taoist, but I believe that true Taoism is not how they defined it. In fact, Taoism is more of a moral teaching and a way of life. For those people who happens to call themselves Taoists, I suppose it’s totally fine with me, but certainly, they will encounter some inconvenience in their life, especially when it comes to filling in forms, even more so when they are forms from the government.
In Malaysia, filling in forms usually mean stating what your religion is. It is as if the religion which you are in affects how the forms are going to be processed. Maybe it does. The usual choices which you can tick are: Buddism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Others (please state). When a “Taoist”, agnostic, or even atheist sees it, guess what he or she will do. Yes, tick the box next to Buddism. Easy, fast and no hassle. It’s been a while since I have to fill in such forms. During this period of time, I have my consciousness raised on the matter of religion. Out of my respect for Buddism, I do not think it is right for me to tick the box next to it. And also as an atheist, I think it is right for me to state my stance, however odd it may seem in Malaysia. However, I’m not sure if I am actually allowed to write Atheism as my “religion”, or even if it is allowed by the law, considering the Rukun Negara.
In my attempt to understand more about this issue, I decided to take a look at the Constitution of Malaysia. Certainly, according to the Rukun Negara, the constitution is supreme and certainly can provide me a good answer. During this attempt, I actually came across some lines in the constitution which deal with the issue of religion. Some of them are common knowledge in Malaysia; some are just so interesting that I would really like to share it with you. Note that first number refers to the Article and the second number refers to the Clause in that particular Article.
(3, 1) - Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practiced in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation.
(3, 2), (3, 3) and (3, 5), (32, 1), (42, 9) deal with the issue of who is to be the Head of Religion in the different states in Malaysia, and their responsibility as the Head of Religion.
(8, 2) - Except as expressly authorized by this Constitution, there shall be no discrimination against citizens on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law relating to the acquisition, holding or disposition of property or the establishing or carrying on of any trade, business, profession, vocation or employment.
(8, 5b) - This Article does not invalidate or prohibit any provision or practice restricting office or employment connected with the affairs of any religion, or of an institution managed by a group professing any religion, to persons professing that religion.
(11, 1) - Every person has the right to profess and practice his religion and, subject to (11, 4), to propagate it.
(11, 2) - No person shall be compelled to pay any tax the proceeds of which are specially allocated in whole or in part for the purposes of a religion other than his own.
(11, 3) - Every religious group has the right to manage its own religious affairs, to establish and maintain institutions for religions or charitable purposes, and to acquire and own property and hold and administer it in accordance with law.
(11, 4) - State law and in respect of the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan, federal law may control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine or belief among persons professing the religion of Islam.
(12, 2) - Every religious group has the right to establish and maintain institutions for the education of children in its own religion, and there shall be no discrimination on the ground only of religion in any law relating to such institutions or in the administration of any such law; but it shall be lawful for the Federation or a State to establish or maintain or assist in establishing or maintaining Islamic institutions or provide or assist in providing instruction in the religion of Islam and incur such expenditure as may be necessary for the purpose.
(12, 3) - No person shall be required to receive instruction in or take part in any ceremony or act of worship of a religion other than his own.
(12, 4) - For the purposes of (12, 3) the religion of a person under the age of eighteen years shall be decided by his parent or guardian.
(160, 2) - “Malay” means a person who professes the religion of Islam, habitually speaks the Malay language, conforms to Malay custom and was before Merdeka Day born in the Federation or in Singapore or born of parents one of whom was born in the Federation or in Singapore, or is on that day domiciled in the Federation or in Singapore; or is the issue of such a person.
If you consider (11, 2) and (12, 2) clearly, you can see that they are somewhat contradicting. (11, 2) states that nobody should “pay any tax the proceeds of which are specially allocated in whole or in part for the purposes of a religion other than his own”. (12, 2) states that “it shall be lawful for the Federation or a State to establish or maintain or assist in establishing or maintaining Islamic institutions or provide or assist in providing instruction in the religion of Islam and incur such expenditure as may be necessary for the purpose”. And how do the Federation of the State pays for the expenditure? Tax payer’s money. And who are the tax payers? Malaysians, be they Muslims or Non-Muslims. Ah… of course, of course, Income Tax is not “specially allocated in whole or in part for the purposes of a religion”… My bad.
Clause (12, 3) and (12, 4) are somewhat contradicting also. It implies that if you are under 18, you have no right to choose your own religion, and if your parents demand of you, you must conform to their decision on the issue of religion. Also, since a religion is “chosen” for you, by what (12, 3) implies, you should “receive instruction in or take part in any ceremony or act of worship of” your religion. What if you have Christian parents but you found out that Islam is obviously the One True Religion? That would make a scene.
If you are wondering why all Malays are Muslims, you can clearly see it in (160, 2), where Malay is actually defined as a person “who professes the religion of Islam”. Alright, you may wonder, what happens if a Malay found out that Christianity, Judaism, Mormon or heck, Scientology is more suitable for him of her? The only answer I can think of comes from mathematics: function is not defined as it is out of the domain.
From the above clauses in the Constitution of Malaysia, you will more or less find that Malaysians do have freedom of religion, regardless of the few seemingly contradicting clauses. Thankfully, I have not found a single clause which demands Malaysians to have a religion. Hence, I believe, atheism must be allowed in Malaysia.
Reading the Constitution of Malaysia, I realized that secularism can never happen in Malaysia, at least not in the near future. In fact, of what I see now in Malaysia, secularism would surely take away the whole identity of Malaysia, if you know what I mean. However, this is not what I am asking for. What I am hoping is this: stop asking me what my religion is, or at least prepare a check box specially for Atheism!
XJ:
hey you never know what the religion check box is for man. Maybe since its a muslim country, whenever they have muslim event or stuff, they’ll send an invitation to your place.and then to be more polite they don’t wanna just put “are u a muslim?” and then a yes/no checkbox. maybe if u ever become muslim someday, and u ticked that box, u’ll realise why they do that.
6 May 2007, 10:44 pmXJ:
where’s the contradiction? okay u solved the first contradiction. about the “What if you have Christian parents but you found out that Islam is obviously the One True Religion? “, well my family has been “buddhist” all the while and my cousin changed to christianity when he turned 18 because he felt that was the true religion. so……what is the contradiction that u are referring to?
6 May 2007, 10:49 pmHean:
(12, 3) gives us the right to not take part in an religious activity other than our own(whether we have one of not), but (12, 4) take away the right of people under 18 to choose their own religion. In a sense, parents can force a religion on to their kids, and since it’s “their religion”, they must take part in those religious activity, which more or less makes (12, 3) useless.
Judging from the recent activities of Majlis Agama Islam, a scene would surely be made (at least this is what I think) if a kid tells them that his Christian(or any non-Muslim) parents are forbidding him from becoming a Muslim. Of course, this is just a hypothetical scenario.
6 May 2007, 11:00 pmXJ:
Basically I think its trying to say that (12,3) will only apply to you if (12,4) applies to you.if (12,4) doesn’t apply, then (12,3) cannot be applied either. it doesn’t make (12,3) useless because if they hadn’t put (12,3) there then (12,4) would sound plain stupid. Of course it would have all been easier if they had just merged the 2.
6 May 2007, 11:51 pmHean:
(12, 4) actually said “for the purpose of (12, 3)…” which implies that it applies to us, when (12, 3) applies to us, and since we are Malaysian, we have to follow that constitution, and therefore, (12, 3) applies to all us, and all other Malaysian.
7 May 2007, 12:02 amBlushstar:
Hello this dear cousin of mine!
7 May 2007, 1:51 amYou are right, I do have something to say. I will not rebut your points, I will just add on to it.
Well, Christianity is about living for God. The foundation of it is having faith in God. So I think it can also be considered a way of life, depending on how you see it; as a religion, a belief, or way of life.
Buddhism in Malaysia is not truly practised by many people(like check-box Buddhists) who claim to be Buddhist. Hence the gods that you think the Buddhist in Malaysia have. If those gods you mentioned aren’t under Buddhism, nor Taoism, then what religion are they under?
Hean:
Religions are not just a way of life, they claim to be the provide you THE way of after-life too. I will not comment on that here.
As for what those religions are under, I would safely say that they are traditional Chinese superstition, probably evolved from our ancient and simple ceremony of honouring our ancestors.
7 May 2007, 2:00 amRuby:
Haih… why do you cause youself headaches over issues like these? To be honest, I dunno what I believe in, nor do I know what exact ‘religion’ I believe in. Yes, I suppose I’m one of those people who click “Buddism” when i see a checkbox, and yet, as we discussed last time, I am no athiest.
Hence, I will not ponder over questions that will bring about no answers, nor changes to my present, past or future life.
(Amen.)
And hean, what is it exactly that you’re trying to say? ~.~
Can never get used to the fact that people are actually using their blogs for ‘heavy’ stuff…
7 May 2007, 10:59 pmHean:
I’m just trying to raise the awareness of atheists in Malaysia that it is ok to admit it.
7 May 2007, 11:14 pmBlushstar:
Hey, if I’m not wrong, Singapore usually has a blank box for religion in forms. I think it would be better for you, and ppl do actually fill in their religion as: free thinker, or atheist, heh.
8 May 2007, 12:38 amHean:
Free thinker… that is actually a term quite insulting when you think of it. Insulting to non-”free thinkers” aka theists. It implies that they have no free thinking. Obviously, that is not true for some cases.
8 May 2007, 12:41 amBX:
toot, why must i put my name and email to post a comment?
ok erm..Christianity is more of a relationship than a way of life.
Old Man of the Moon etc are traditional chinese believes, not superstitions. burning papers are, just like not sweeping the floor or wash ur head during chinese new year. people commonly attribute those to taoism because he practised those when he was alive, or so it was assumed.
buddhism does tell of a beginning sometime in the very distant past. it is said that the knowledge is simply too much for our mind to comprehend and hence we are only taught of what the last Buddha of this age says. dude how can there be no creation when buddhism teach that the world is supported by 4 pillars?!
and btw the buddhism as we know it today is nothing like the original 1 that was taught in india. it was integrated with the local believes and hence became a philosophy instead.
ok as for the (12,3) (12,4) argument. obviously it’s written in such a way that the people whom it concerns can’t tell the irony and for those who can …well it doesnt apply to them anymore. but of course… everything is exempted when it comes to Islam…
(11,1) is useless when (11,4) is there. heck is there any other religion that says Islam is true beside Islam?
8 May 2007, 1:26 amHean:
I shall not comment here on what I think Christianity (or other major religion) is.
As for the Traditional Chinese Believes, you can see some differences between those and other major religions in the world:
For one, they are usually not organised, in the sense of coming to conclusion what He or She did or will do.
For two, they don’t claim to be the one and only, the ultimate truth.
As for the world being supported by four pillar, I don’t think that’s a Buddism teaching. One thing I can think of associated with the number 4 is the 4 Noble Truths of Buddism. Of course, “truth” is not actually a precise word. It is more of a “Philosophy of Life”.
As for creationism, there is none is Buddism. If I remember clearly, there is a record(well, at least it claimed to be) that one of Buddha’s pupil asked him why the world exist, or who created the world. Buddha answered by saying that the world is created by human desire(or something like that, I don’t remember clearly). Of course, it may sound absurd, but if you try to view it from the core belief of Buddism, that the world is some sort of temporary stage of learning, it is not so absurd at all.
I believe that every Malaysian has to abide by the Constitution, no matter what religion we are in. As for “everything is exempted when it comes to Islam”, that certainly is a sensitive issue, of which I will not venture further into.
If you read up on the case of Sky Kingdom aka Malaysian Teapot Cult, and the interview with Ayah Pin, you’ll probably be surprised.
8 May 2007, 12:45 pmkhensthoth:
BX: You must have mixed up your understanding of religions due to the lack of understanding for religions.
I have never heard of any teaching in Buddhism that says the world is supported by four pillars. You might have wanted to express the Four Noble Truth and Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism.
There are some form of pillars in other religion though: the Five Pillars of Islam.
Hean: I think Buddism is not really a religion, unless you wish to start one that says everyone in Buddism is called a Buddy and we are all Buddies. In that case I guess everyone in this world are in Buddism. In MY opinion, Buddhism is a correct spelling for the religion you were refering to.
11 May 2007, 4:32 pmHean:
Oh, how I wished Buddism is a real religion, and so we can all be buddies, no hatred, no sufferings. Ah…
Of course, my Gods aka Google and Wikipedia spell it as Buddhism. So, for any “buddy” to have any problem with Buddism, I apologize.
11 May 2007, 4:58 pmSurind:
Great piece, I was browsing & researching this topic as I was thinking about posting something along these lines. Check out my blog, there is a buildup to this. Hope you don’t mind in me putting your link up on my new post - let me know if it is. It will be up soon. Open to feedback & comments.
Thanks & great to meet like minded people.
17 January 2008, 3:04 amAssaji:
I consider myself an atheist Buddhist. Atheist because I comprehend the discoveries of science and have escaped the irrational brainwash of organised theistic religion. And Buddhist because it is the most systematic and complete spiritual path known.
8 March 2008, 8:02 pmallan:
I know this post of yours was written quite a while ago. I wrote a little essay on facebook on the matter of whether the Rukun Negara compels all Malaysians to be theists. My take on it is: NO
Here it is:
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=22863906024&topic=4417
I hope you’re able to open it. If you have a Facebook acct, think about joining my group…=)
16 March 2008, 2:15 amallan:
Finding the group on Facebook might be difficult unless you type “Malaysian atheists”. I don’t know why the search engine is so unhelpful.
We’re called “Malaysian Atheists, Freethinkers, Agnostics and their friends”.
Btw, it is not necessarily insulting to theists to call non-religious people “freethinkers”. It really depends on how you define “freethinker”.
If a “freethinker” is anyone who approaches the world in a rational way and makes decisions only after having heard both sides of the argument, some religious people can also be regarded as “freethinkers”. These people make informed decisions. Their thinking is not enslaved to superstition or the agendas of human high priests and sacred books.
16 March 2008, 2:24 amTan WK:
Finally. I found this article that really understands what I am feeling… and exactly what I’m looking for. The Constitution part. (Found this article. back then, but now only got reasons to leave a comment =P)
Well, I am so grateful enough for my class teacher to understand me to put a hyphen under my religion. I didn’t asked for it. Hehe. (I’m not sure she’s an atheist or not but it seems that she is an agnostic, if not atheist)
Other thing is the moral lesson in class. It seems that the teachers actually about this atheist/theist matter. And I am brave enough to raise my hands up this time when she asked “Who here don’t believe in God”.
Proud to be atheist. =)
29 March 2008, 5:34 amneuroneuster:
Rationally, I am interested in your post.
Because I’m also a person who needs freedom,
any type of freedom. And religion,
is something too random to grip.
Anyway, it depends on people’s perspective.
Even in science, if something is not yet accepted, it is not considered
as fact.
I respect your belief,
so I hope Malaysia will be more open,
that this country needs to welcome atheists,
or agnostics, or even deists. Whatsoever they are.
I am disappointed for why Malaysians should be
sensitive with someone who wants to convert.
For some reasons, they put away reason/logic
for their own faith.
Faith is subjective.
5 September 2008, 9:00 pmYou can change it every time.