KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Sixty-six per cent of Malaysians polled said it is very important to have a national leader who has the same religious beliefs as they do, a study by global pollster Pew Research Center has found.
The report titled “Comparing Levels of Religious Nationalism Around the World” also showed that 51 per cent of Malaysian respondents said it was very important to have a national leader who has strong religious beliefs, even if those beliefs are different from their own.
“People in middle-income countries are also more likely to be religious nationalists.
“In 13 of the 17 middle-income countries surveyed, there are double-digit shares of religious nationalists and these shares reach around a third or more in Kenya (32 per cent), Malaysia (38 per cent), Bangladesh (45 per cent) and Indonesia (46 per cent),” said the report.
The report defined “religious nationalists” as people who identify with the historically predominant religion (also often the majority religion) of their country of origin and view the dominant religious tradition as central to their national identity, want their leaders to share their religious beliefs and want religious teachings to guide their laws.
In the survey, 62 per cent of Malaysians said it is very important to have a national leader who stands up for people with their religious beliefs.
“In most of the countries surveyed, adults who pray at least daily are significantly more likely than those who pray less often to say it is very important to have a national leader with strong religious beliefs.
“In Malaysia, 54 per cent of adults who pray daily say it is very important to have a national leader who has strong religious beliefs, even if they are different from their own, by religiousness,” it said.
On the importance of Islam, 62 per cent in Malaysia said being a Muslim is very important to being truly Malaysians.
“For example, roughly seven in 10 Malaysians who pray at least daily (69 per cent) say being a Muslim is very important for being truly Malaysian, compared with a third of Malaysians who pray less often – a difference of 36 percentage points,” it said.
In the same survey, three-quarters of Malaysian respondents also said religion helps society (92 per cent) and encourages tolerance (82 per cent), with 87 per cent stating religion discourages superstitions.
As for the Islamic religious text of the Quran, 62 per cent of respondents said the Quran should have a great deal of influence on the laws of the country, with 58 per cent stating the Quran should have more influence than the will of the people, should the two conflict.
Nine in 10 Muslims in Malaysia said they favour a legal system in which Muslims are bound by Islamic law or Shariah.
“Support for making sharia the official law for Muslims is somewhat correlated with religiousness.
“For example, among Malaysian Muslims, 90 per cent say they pray at least daily, and 93 per cent are in favor of making sharia the official law,” it said.
The findings were part of the Global Attitudes Survey done by Pew Research for 2024.
In Malaysia, 1,005 adults were randomly polled over the phone between January 5 and May 22, 2024.
