Malaysia

Country Profile

Malaysia

말레이시아 소개

DESIGNATION: Restricted

OVERVIEW: Malaysia has three major ethnicities: Malay (60 percent), Chinese (30 percent) and native tribes. The Malays are the most powerful group in the country, and being Muslim is an important part of their identity. Most Christians are from the tribal and Chinese people groups, and most churches experience relative freedom as long as they do not evangelize the Malays.

MAJOR RELIGIONS: 56 percent of Malaysians are Sunni Muslims, but there is also a significant Buddhist population. 9 percent are Christians, including 4 percent evangelicals. 

PERSECUTOR: The government severely punishes converts and strictly opposes outreach and evangelism among the Malay people. 

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN IN MALAYSIA: While Christianity is not illegal, Christians are marginalized by the ruling Muslim ethnic group and have difficulty acquiring building permits for new churches. Many churches work in the languages of Mandarin, Tamil and English, but not in the Malay language. No Malay churches meet openly, and it is illegal for Malays to convert to Christianity. Christian converts who are caught are confined to “re-education camps” that use brainwashing techniques, torture and propaganda to force them to return to Islam. Most Malay-background Christians keep their ethnicity a secret from their church. Many indigenous people have come to Christ in eastern Malaysia, which is separated from peninsular Malaysia and shares a border with Indonesia.

ACCESS TO BIBLES: It is illegal for Malay people to have a Bible, and Malay language Bibles are largely unavailable outside Christian majority areas.

VOM WORK: VOM supports local Christian workers and persecuted Malay Christians.

 

 

 

 

MALAYSIA
National Flag [ 국기 ]
말레이시아 | Malaysia
Population [ 인구 ]
31,381,992 (July 2017 est.)
Ethnicity [ 인종 ]
Note: Bumiputera(Malays and indigenous peoples, including Orang Asli, Dayak, Anak Negeri) (2017 est.)
Religion [ 종교 ]
Note: Muslim (official) 61.3%, Buddhist 19.8%, Christian 9.2%, Hindu 6.3%, Confucianism, Taoism, other traditional Chinese religions 1.3%, other 0.4%, none 0.8%, unspecified 1% (2010 est.)
Leader [ 지도자 ]

King MUHAMMAD V (formerly known as Tuanku Muhammad Faris Petra) (selected on 14 October 2016; installed on 13 December 2016); note – the position of the king is primarily ceremonial, but he is the final arbiter on the appointment of the prime minister

Government Type [ 정부형태 ]
Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
Note: all Peninsular Malaysian states have hereditary rulers (commonly referred to as sultans) except Melaka (Malacca) and Pulau Pinang (Penang); those two states along with Sabah and Sarawak in East Malaysia have governors appointed by government; powers of state governments are limited by federal constitution; under terms of federation, Sabah and Sarawak retain certain constitutional prerogatives (e.g., right to maintain their own immigration controls)
Legal System [ 법적 체제 ]
Mixed legal system of English common law, Islamic law, and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Federal Court at request of supreme head of the federation
Source [ 자료출처 ]

CIA World Factbook

Related Books [ 연관 서적 ]
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