Lausanne World Pulse – A Focus on South Pacific and Southeast Asia: 661 Least-reached People Groups Remain
Unfortunately, Christianity was perceived as being the religion of colonial conquerors. In 1511, well-armed Portuguese ships, emblazoned with the cross, came into Melaka. They conquered this part of the world and held it until the Protestant Dutch forced them out in 1641. Neither group impressed the Malays with their spiritual merits.
Once the British established their colonial administration in 1786 in Melaka, Penang and Singapore, they began Christian missionary work. Unfortunately, most of these early missionaries were simply waiting for China to open up before moving on to the Middle Kingdom. When this door opened in the nineteenth century, only a tiny remnant of the missionary force remained in the Malay world. One notable missionary was Benjamin Keasberry, who resigned from his missionary agency to continue his work among the Malays. At the height of his work, there were sixty Malays in his congregation; however, after he died, all of them reverted back to Islam.
The Treaty of Pangkor in 1874 was a setback for missionary work. In this treaty, the British made an agreement with Muslim sultans not to interfere with the religion of the Malays. To this day, Malay leaders point to this treaty to excuse their restrictions on Christian missionary work. In the 1930s, a group of Christian workers in Malaysia, among them lawyers and other very notable people, determined the treaty said nothing of the sort. But the treaty certainly hindered ministry. Today there are churches and Christians who are reticent to engage in Malay outreach for fear of being closed down, imprisoned or fined.
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In Southeast Asia, there are significant Buddhist, Hindu and Christian populations. |
Today’s Context
Malay Muslims in Southeast Asia have had to learn to live in harmony with peoples of other faiths. In Southeast Asia, there are significant Buddhist, Hindu and Christian populations. The Malay Muslims in Malaysia only make up about sixty percent of the population.
During British colonial days, the Malays tended to remain rural while Chinese immigrants excelled in urban businesses. In nearby Indonesia, where ten million more Malay people live, the Chinese also tend to run the most important parts of the economy. Malay people in both countries feel threatened by the Chinese. The usual peace between ethnic and religious groups in this part of the world has been interrupted by sporadic violent persecution of the Chinese minority, some of whom are Christian.
The Malay peoples sometimes feel that they are losing control of their own country. In order to regain control, the Malay legislators have passed laws that require their universities to have a certain percentage of ethnic Malay students. A certain number of government jobs are also reserved for the Malays.
Like all Muslims, the Malays are sensitive about their people becoming “apostates;” that is, converts to other religions. To them, if someone from their family or community turns away from Islam, it means that they all lose face. To the Asian mind, this is unacceptable. A 15 November 2006 article in BBC News told of the ordeals faced by two Muslim women in Malaysia who dared to embrace Christianity. One of them said, “If the authorities find out [about my conversion], I will be in big trouble. They will create hell between me and my family, and hell in my life so that I will no longer get any privileges or employment.”
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