Peranakan

Independence and the Making of Malaysia · Treatise · 10 min read

Can Chinese Muslims Become Malay? The People Standing at the Constitutional Door

A former Court of Appeal judge said they should become “special Malays”; that sentence put faith, identity, and benefits on the same table

In 2014, former Court of Appeal judge Datuk Mohd Noor Abdullah argued that Muslim converts should be treated as “special Malays” and receive Bumiputera rights. The claim did not come out of nowhere: Article 160(2) does not define Malay by bloodline, but it also sets tests of religion, language, custom, and Merdeka Day birth, residence, or descent. Chinese Muslims therefore stand close to the door, but conversion alone does not carry them through it.