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Hinduism is the fourth largest religion in Malaysia. About 1.78 million Malaysian residents (6.3% of the total population) are Hindus, according to 2010 Census of Malaysia.〔(2010 Population and Housing Census of Malaysia (Census 2010) ) Department of Statistics Malaysia, Official Portal (2012)〕 Most Malaysian Hindus are settled in western parts of Peninsular Malaysia. The Malaysian state with highest percentage of state's population as Hindus, according to 2010 Census, is Negeri Sembilan (13.4%), followed by Selangor (11.6%), Perak (10.9%) and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur (8.5%).〔(Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics 2010 ) Department of Statistics, Government of Malaysia (2011), Page 13〕 The state with least percentage of Hindu population is Sabah (0.1%). Indians, along with other ethnic groups such as Chinese, began arriving in Malaysia in ancient and medieval era. In 2010, Malaysian Census reported there were 1.91 million citizens of Indian ethnic origin.〔(Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics 2010 ) Department of Statistics, Government of Malaysia (2011), Page 15〕 About 1.64 million of Indian ethnic group Malaysians (86%) are Hindus. About 0.14 million non-Indian ethnic group Malaysian people also profess being Hindus.〔(Population Distribution and Basic Demographic Characteristics 2010 ) Department of Statistics, Government of Malaysia (2011), Page 82〕 Malaysia gained its independence from British colonial empire in 1957, thereafter declared its official state religion as Islam, and adopted a constitution that is mixed. On one hand, it protects freedom of religion (such as practice of Hinduism), but on the other hand Malaysian constitution also restricts religious freedom.〔〔Gill & Gopal, Understanding Indian Religious Practice in Malaysia, J Soc Sci, 25(1-2-3): 135-146 (2010)〕〔Raymond Lee, Patterns of Religious Tension in Malaysia, Asian Survey, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Apr., 1988), pp. 400-418〕 In recent decades, there have been increasing reports of religious persecution of Hindus, along with other minority religions, by various state governments of Malaysia and its Sharia courts.〔(2011 Report on International Religious Freedom - Malaysia ) U.S. State Department (2012)〕〔(Religious Freedom Report 2013 - Malaysia ) U.S. State Department (2014)〕 Hindu temples built on private property, and built long before Malaysian independence, have been demolished by Malaysian government officials in recent years.〔(Religious Freedom Report 2012 - Malaysia ) U.S. State Department (2013)〕 ==History== Similar to the Indonesian Archipelago, the native Malays practised an indigenous animism and dynamism beliefs before the arrival of Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. It is unclear when the first Indian voyages across the bay of Bengal occurred. Conservative estimates place the earliest arrivals to Malay shores at least 1,700 years ago. The growth of trade with India brought coastal people in much of the Malay world into contact with Hinduism. Thus, Hinduism, Indian cultural traditions and the Sanskrit language began to spread across the land. Temples were built in the Indian style and local kings began referring to themselves as ''Raja'' and more desirable aspects of Indian government were adopted. Subsequently, small Hindu Malay states started to appear in the coastal areas of Malay peninsular notably the Gangga Negara (2nd century), Langkasuka (2nd century), and Kedah (4th century). Between 7th and 13th centuries many of these small, often prosperous peninsular maritime trading states came under the loose control of Srivijaya empire, a great Hindu Malay kingdom centred in Palembang, Sumatra. ;Colonial era Many Indian settlers came to Malaya from South India during the British colonial rule from early 19th through mid 20th century.〔Sandhu (2010), Indians in Malaya: Some Aspects of Their Immigration and Settlement (1786-1957), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521148139〕 Many came to escape poverty and famines in British India, and work as indentured labourers in initially tin mining operations and coffee, sugar plantations, and later rubber plantations; they worked with immigrant Chinese laborers on these sites.〔Amarjit Kaur, (Indian migrant workers in Malaysia – part 1 ) Australian National University〕〔Amarjit Kaur, (Indian migrant workers in Malaysia – part 2 ) Australian National University〕 Some English-educated Indians were appointed to more professional positions. Most were hired through British colonial labor offices in Nagapattinam or Madras (now Chennai). In early years, the retention rates of Hindus in Malaysia were low and with time, fewer Hindus volunteered to live in Malaysia. The colonial rule adopted a ''Kangani'' system of recruitment, where the trusted Hindu worker was encouraged and rewarded for recruiting friends and family from India to work in British operations in Malaysia.〔Sandhu (2010), Indians in Malaya: Some Aspects of Their Immigration and Settlement (1786-1957), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521148139, pp. 89-102〕 The family and friends peer pressure reduced labor turnover and increased permanent migration into Malaysia. The ''kangani'' system led to vast majority of Hindus coming from certain parts of South Indian Hindu community.〔 So concentrated was the immigration from South India, that the British colonial Malayan Administration named laws to highlight the focussed group, and enacted the ''Tamil'' Immigration Fund Ordinance in 1907.〔Sandhu (2010), Indians in Malaya: Some Aspects of Their Immigration and Settlement (1786-1957), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0521148139, pp. 60-68〕 A minority of Indian immigrants to Malaysia during this period came from Northern India and Sri Lanka. The Malaysian Hindu workers during the British era were among the most marginalised. They were forced to live in closed plantation societies in frontier zones and the plantation symbolised the boundary of their existence. Racial segregation was enforced, and British anti-vagrancy laws made it illegal for Indian Hindus (and Chinese Buddhists) to enter the more developed European zoned regions. The Hindus spoke neither English nor Malay languages, and remained confined to interacting within their own community.〔 After Malaysia gained independence in 1957, the local governments favored ''Bumiputera'' who were ethnic Muslims, and refused citizenship to Indians and Chinese ethnic groups who had been living in Malaysia for decades during British colonial era.〔〔(Malaysian Indian Community: Victim of ‘Bumiputera’ Policy ) ORF Issue Report (2008)〕 They were declared illegal aliens and they could not apply for government jobs or own land. Racial and communal riots followed that targeted Hindus (Indians), Buddhists (Chinese) and Christians (Euroasians), such as the 1957 Chingay riot in Penang, 1964 Malaysian racial riots, the 1967 Hartal riots, and 13 May 1969 riots.〔Johan Saravanamuttu (2009), Conflict and Compromise in Inter-Religious Issues in Malaysia, Is. Jrnl. Conflict Resolution, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 87-102〕 Singapore, which in early 1960s was part of Malaysia, seceded from the union and became an independent city state. The Malaysian government passed a 1970 constitutional amendment and then the 1971 Sedition law that made it illegal to publicly discuss Malaysian citizenship methodology, national language, native population that Malaysian constitution declares as automatically Muslim, and the right to power of Sultans in each Malaysian state.〔Michael Peletz (2002), Islamic Modern Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0691095080〕 It also formalized the discrimination against non-natives and denied citizenship to non-Muslim residents who were originally from different ethnicities. Many Malay Hindus emigrated, quite many to India (while Chinese returned to China, and Christians to Europe). The Hindu population of 12.8% of total Malay population in 1950s, began its decline thereafter. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hinduism in Malaysia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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