Freedom of religion in Malaysia

"The Malaysian society of different races, languages, religions and cultures are used to celebrating religious festivals together. This is one of Malaysia’s many specialties. It is also a manifestation of the freedom of religion practised in Malaysia and this freedom is not limited to religion, but also freedom of language, customs and cultures."

"There is obviously no absolute freedom of religion in Malaysia. First, the political need to conflate 'Malay' with 'Muslim' ensures that it is forbidden for Malays/Muslims to leave Islam, ...."

"Even so, it seems that there are still some restrictions imposed against one’s rights to fully exercise freedom of religion in Malaysia Nowhere is this deprivation of rights evident than in Article 11 (5) of the Constitution. It implicitly places restriction to this freedom on the grounds of public order and morality, and thus the right of exercising any religious act that deemed contrary to any general law relating to such grounds is inconceivable. In the case of Muslims, there may be additional restrictions applied to religious freedom by virtue of Schedule 9, List II, Item I of the Constitution. This provision grants power to State Assemblies to enact laws to punish Muslims for offences against the edicts of Islam and human dignity..."