Experience in a Multi-Ethnic and Multi-Religious Malaysian Society

ABSTRACT: The main thrust of the paper is that religion plays an important role in the national identity of a Malaysian nation despite its multi-religious nature. The paper looks at the spectrum of the debate about the identification of Malaysia as an Islamic state and the opposition to this epitaph by some who feel that by the purpose of its permission of other religions, it will be wrong to describe it as an official Islamic nation, even though Islam is its officially recognized religion in the constitution. Thus, the paper concludes that despite the debate about its national identity, Malaysia has moved towards being identified as an Islamic nation (in fact, a model Islamic nation in the modern world), especially in the international community, which nonetheless takes adequate care of the interests of other religions by giving them the space to co-exist with it in a pluralistic, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state