Religion in Malaysia

Islam is the state religion in Malaysia, as per Article 3 of the Constitution. Meanwhile, other religions can be practised by non-Malay citizens of the country. In addition, per Article 160, one must be Muslim to be considered Malay.

• I lived in Malaysia for three years in the kind of uncertainty westerners face only in times of war. The five daily calls to prayer are the only predictable events in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. The power cuts are frequent, the traffic jams continuous. Islam is the official religion, but materialism is the ruling creed. ... Islam is practised with ritual precision and with perfect reverence for its Arabian dimension. All Malays, including the royal family, look up to Arabs, the white men of the East.
  • Shabbir Akhtar, Perspective: Ex-defender of the faith, The Times Higher Education Supplement on 22 August 1997. Also reproduced in Goel, Sita Ram (editor) (1998). Freedom of expression: Secular theocracy versus liberal democracy. [1] (Chapter 28)

• Missionaries (from India or Pakistan) had brought the idol-smashing message to Malaysia. They had worked out, from various books they had consulted, how many thousands of years in paradise a Muslim earned for every idol he smashed; and they had calculated that a grand total of thirty smashed idols won a Muslim the jackpot, an eternity in paradise.
  The Malay rage was really about the Chinese shrines—some no more than concrete boxes—that were everywhere in the towns (there were two just outside the Holiday Inn). But the Chinese were powerful, and had their secret societies. The Tamil Hindus were a small, pacific community. So Hindu images were smashed. On many nights—during a three-week period in 1978—Tamil temples were desecrated.
  • Naipaul, V.S. - Among the Believers (Vintage, 1982)

• "‘Contrary to public interest’: Malaysia bans film showing Muslim exploring other religions", Minderjeet Kaur and Ili Shazwani, Benar News (September 13, 2023)