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Demographics
of Malaysia
Malaysia's population comprises many ethnic groups, with the Malays and
other bumiputra groups in Sabah and Sarawak making up the majority, at
65% of the population. By constitutional definition, Malays are
Muslims who practice Malay customs (adat) and culture. Therefore,
technically, a Muslim of any race who practices Malay customs and culture
can be considered a Malay and have equal rights when it comes to Malay
rights as stated in the constitution. Non-Malay bumiputra groups make up
more than half of the state of Sarawak's population (of which 30% are
Ibans), and close to 60% of Sabah's population (of which 18% are
Kadazan-Dusuns, and 17% are Bajaus). There also exist aboriginal
groups in much smaller numbers on the Peninsula, where they are
collectively known as Orang Asli.
26% of the population are Malaysians of Chinese descent, while Malaysians
of Indian descent comprise 8% of the population. The majority of the
Indian community are Tamils but various other groups are also present,
including Malayalis, Punjabis and Gujaratis. Other Malaysians also include
those whose origin, inter alia, can be traced to the Middle East, Thailand
and Indonesia. Europeans and Eurasians include British who settled in
Malaysia since colonial times, and a strong Portuguese community in
Malacca. A small number of Cambodians and Vietnamese also settled in
Malaysia as Vietnam War refugees.
Population distribution is uneven, with some 20 million residents
concentrated on the Malay Peninsula, while East Malaysia is relatively
less populated. Due to the rise in labour intensive industries, Malaysia
has 10 to 20% foreign workers with the uncertainty due in part to the
large number of illegal workers, mostly Indonesian. There are a million
legal foreign workers and perhaps another million unauthorised foreigners.
The state of Sabah alone has nearly 25% of its 2.7 million population
listed as illegal foreign workers in the last census. However, this figure
of 25% is thought to be less than half the figure speculated by NGOs.
Additionally, according to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the
U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, Malaysia hosts a population of
refugees and asylum seekers numbering approximately 155,700. Of this
population, approximately 70,500 refugees and asylum seekers are from the
Philippines, 69,700 from Burma, and 21,800 from Indonesia. The U.S.
Committee for Refugees and Immigrants named Malaysia as one of the Ten
Worst Places for Refugees on account of the country's discriminatory
practices toward refugees. Malaysian officials are reported to have turned
deportees directly over to human smugglers in 2007, and Malaysia employs
the RELA, a volunteer militia, to enforce its immigration law.
resource : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia |