Muslims and Christians polled agree: Can't be 'true believers' if disrespectful of elders and Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 13 — What makes one perceived as less of a Buddhist, Muslim, Christian or Hindu? Here's what Malaysians think, based on the latest survey by non-partisan and non-advocacy pollster Pew Research Center.

Its latest survey released last night showed that Muslims and Christians here mostly agree that in order to be true believers, one has to respect both their elders and the country.

When it comes to "celebrating" each others' festivities, 81 per cent of Muslims surveyed in Malaysia said one cannot truly be a Muslim if they celebrate the Buddhist festival of Wesak, while 79 per cent of local Muslims said the same for the Christian festival of Christmas.

The corresponding proportion for Christians in Malaysia was 53 per cent for Wesak, followed by 35 per cent for the Muslim festival of Eid which is better known here as Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Buddhists in Malaysia were more open towards the view that one could still truly be a Buddhist if they celebrate other religious festivals, with only 28 per cent saying one is not truly a Buddhist if they celebrate Eid while 23 per cent said the same for those celebrating Christmas.

Additionally, 28 per cent of Hindus said one cannot truly be one if they celebrate Christmas, while 21 per cent and 20 per cent said the same for those who celebrate Wesak and Eid.

The report however did not define what "celebrating" would mean, including whether it refers to participating in religious ceremonies. In multireligious and multiethnic Malaysia, such festivals are often marked with public holidays and the practice of visiting each other or hosting open house events.

In the same survey, 95 per cent of Muslims in Malaysia said one cannot truly be a Muslim if they do not respect elders, while 91 per cent of Christians, 87 per cent of Hindus, and 83 per cent of Buddhists said the same regarding whether disrespecting elders would make one not a true adherent of the faith.

For those who do not respect their country, 92 per cent of local Christians polled, 91 per cent of Muslims, 80 per cent of Hindus, 66 per cent of Buddhists said such persons cannot be truly a member of their religion.

While 98 per cent of local Muslims and 83 per cent of Hindus said a person cannot be truly a member of their religion if they drink alcohol, a relatively lower percentage was seen saying the same thing among Christians (62 per cent) and Buddhists (34 per cent).

The survey by the US-based non-partisan think tank was carried out in six countries in Asia from June 1 to September 4, 2022, for the report titled "Buddhism, Islam and Religious Pluralism in South and Southeast Asia", where 13,122 adults were interviewed.

In Malaysia, a total of 1,999 adults were polled through computer-assisted telephone interviewing using mobile phones from June 1 to August 9, 2022 in the languages of Chinese, English and Malay, with a margin of error of 3.0 percentage points.

Out of those, 75 per cent said they were Muslims, followed by Christians (10 per cent), Buddhists (7 per cent), Hindus (5 per cent), while 2 per cent said they have no religion, and 1 per cent said they are a follower of Chinese traditional religions (which includes Tao, Confucian, or Chinese local religions).

According to the latest census by the Department of Statistics in 2020, the population is comprised of 63.5 per cent Muslims, followed by Buddhists (18.7 per cent), Christians (9.1 per cent), Hindus (6.1 per cent), and others (2.7 per cent).