Malaysia had an almost equal population of Malays and Chinese at the beginning of its nationhood. However, after half a century of various policy maneuvers, Malaysia has transformed into a country where over 70% of the population is Muslim.
Similar situations have occurred in places like Kosovo, Kazakhstan, and Lebanon, where within half a century, the demographic structure has been rapidly altered to create a Muslim-majority region.
In the early years of Malaysia's independence, Muslims comprised only half of the total population.
To ensure the dominance of the Muslim population, the Malaysian government implemented a series of measures.
First, they excluded Singapore, which had a majority Chinese population, from the Malaysian Federation.
This move ensured that Malays held a dominant demographic position within the federation, facilitating better control over the national government.
After independence, the Malaysian government encouraged higher birth rates among Malays and implemented preferential policies to boost the Muslim population.
For instance, 95% of government positions were reserved exclusively for Malays, providing them with stable incomes, which in turn enabled them to comfortably have more children.
Additionally, the Malaysian government accepted a large number of Muslim refugees, including Cham people from Cambodia, Muslims from southern Philippines, and Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Yemen, and Syria.
By doing so, Malaysia swiftly increased the proportion of its Muslim population.
The government adopted a targeted policy in accepting refugees, following the principle of "only accepting Muslims, not infidels."
In the 1970s, Malaysia refused entry to Chinese refugees from South Vietnam, declaring that they would take extreme measures if these refugees attempted to come.
Despite strong opposition from the Chinese community, the Malaysian government accepted over a hundred thousand Rohingya refugees following the 2017 Rohingya crisis in Myanmar.
These Rohingya refugees demanded greater rights than the Chinese community, arguing that as Muslims, they should enjoy higher citizenship privileges.
The Rohingya mainly come from Rakhine State in Myanmar, bordering Bangladesh, and their language is a dialect of Bengali called Chittagonian.
Although the Rohingya have linguistic and cultural ties with Bengalis, Bangladesh closed its borders and refused to accept Rohingya refugees during the 2017 conflict in Myanmar.
These refugees faced extremely harsh living conditions in Bangladesh, being placed on a flood-prone island where their lives were constantly at risk.
The differing attitudes of Malaysia and Bangladesh towards Rohingya refugees highlight that a Muslim-majority country with a significant non-Muslim population might tend to accept Muslim refugees to unite external Muslims against internal non-Muslims.
Conversely, a highly Islamized country like Bangladesh, with over 99% Muslim population, shows no interest in Muslim refugees as it no longer needs to change its demographic structure through refugee intake.
Apart from accepting refugees, the Malaysian government also implemented various pro-natalist policies.
Malay families having more children received various government incentives, such as tax breaks, child allowances, and housing subsidies.
These measures significantly encouraged Malay families to increase their population.
Additionally, the government provided preferential treatment to Malays in public services like education and healthcare, which subtly promoted Muslim population growth.
Public sector recruitment also favored Malays, ensuring their employment opportunities and giving Malay families the economic stability to raise more children.
Over the years, these policies effectively increased the Malay population proportion, resulting in significant demographic changes in Malaysia within a few decades.
Strategically, Malaysia leveraged its relationships with Muslim countries to attract Muslim immigrants.
Malaysia maintained close ties and friendly relations with Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Southeast Asian Muslim countries, attracting their Muslim immigrants to settle.
Through bilateral agreements and offering favorable policies, Malaysia successfully attracted a substantial number of Muslim immigrants, who brought labor and further increased the Muslim population ratio.
With the growing Muslim population, Malaysia's social structure and culture have undergone significant changes.
Muslim traditions and culture have gained prominence in social life, and the influence of Islam has continuously strengthened.
In this context, the lifestyle and cultural practices of non-Muslim communities have faced varying degrees of impact and challenge.
Despite the government's efforts to maintain social harmony and stability within a multicultural framework, conflicts and tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims occasionally arise.
Non-Muslim communities feel their rights are being eroded and express dissatisfaction with government policies, leading to social unrest.
In the future, the Malaysian government may continue to implement these policies to further solidify the dominance of Muslims in the country.
With the changing global political environment, international migration trends may also affect Malaysia's demographic structure and social stability.
Balancing population growth with maintaining social harmony and stability will be a long-term challenge for the Malaysian government.
The Muslim community deeply understands the importance of "population structure," rooted in Islamic teachings that clearly differentiate between "Muslims" and "non-Muslims."
In resource-scarce environments, the zero-sum game of resource competition makes this distinction more apparent.
By systematically accepting Muslim refugees and encouraging higher birth rates, Malaysia successfully altered its population structure within half a century, achieving a dominant Muslim population.
Similar strategies have been applied in other countries and regions, rapidly "greening" them into Muslim-majority areas within half a century.
The success of these strategies illustrates how religious and political forces tightly intertwine in the competition for resources and demographic adjustments, shaping the social and political landscape of a country.
For other nations, this case offers important insights and warnings.
In the future, balancing the interests and needs of different groups within a multicultural and religious context will be a serious consideration and challenge for governments worldwide.
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