Essay About Religion In Malaysia

Religion

Malaysia

Malaysia is a multicultural country that comprises of Malays, Indians and Chinese. With the Malays being the largest community. The Malay language they use is Bahasa and they control the political fortunes of the country. Chinese make up one third of the country population, which comprise of Buddhist and Taoists, and speak different dialects. Indians would only make up 10% of the population and are mainly Hindu Tamils. Although Bahasa Malaysia is the official language, but most of the people converse mainly in English.

The different religions in Malaysia shows that there are many different races living there. Although Islam is the the official religion in Malaysia, but the other religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions are practiced freely as Malaysia guaranteed religion freedom. Most Malays practice Islam. The Constitution of Malaysia formally proclaims the state to be secular and guarantees "every person the freedom to practice his or her religion in peace and harmony." At the same time, the document also recognizes Islam as the "religion of the Federation," defines Malays as Muslims, and limits the "propagation" of other faiths. Sunni Muslims are free to practice their religious beliefs with few limitations,

In states where Muslims are a majority, local governments carefully control the building of non-Muslim places of worship, the allocation of land for non-Muslim cemeteries, and the distribution of religious materials. Approvals are needed for building religious venues and printing religious materials-approvals that are often granted slowly or through corruption. In peninsular Malaysia, the federal government restricts the distribution of books, movies, Websites, and music it alleges might incite racial or religious disharmony. This ban does not extend to eastern Malaysia, where there are Chinese and Indian