Perplexities related to the religious freedom in Malaysia

Abstract

Some Malaysians claim that the religious freedom in Malaysia has been under siege after the independence of Malaysia. However some other Malaysians do not agree with such claim and they stress that the religious freedom in Malaysia has never been diminished let alone been under siege. Their main arguments are namely Malaysian Federal Constitution on the religious freedom has never been amended or modified and Malaysians are legally free to uphold their religious beliefs and observe their religious practices. They are also legally free to educate their own children with their own religious teachings. The book named Religion under Siege? Lina Joy, the Islamic State and Freedom of Faith, edited by Nathaniel Tan and John Lee (2008), is intended to support the Malaysians who have seen the diminishing of the religious freedom among Malaysians by providing the new religious cases related to the religious freedom. This paper plans to explain perplexities surrounding the religious freedom in Malaysia and some reasons for such perplexities based on the book edited by Tan and Lee (2008) and some other books on the same subject matter.