Malaysian Australians

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Malaysian Australians
Australian Census 2011 demographic map - Australia by SLA - BCP field 1309 Malaysia Persons.svg
Total population
180,470 (2023)
Regions with significant populations
Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide
Languages
Australian English, Malaysian English, Chinese (Cantonese, Min Chinese, Malaysian Mandarin), Tamil, Malay, other Languages of Malaysia, Orang Asal languages
Religion
Predominantly Unaffiliated and Christianity, with minorities of Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism
Related ethnic groups
Various ethnic groups of Malaysia, Singaporean Australians, Cocos Malays, Chinese Australians, and Indian Australians

Malaysian Australians (Malay : orang Malaysia Australia) refers to Malaysians who have migrated to Australia or Australian-born citizens who are of Malaysian descent. This may include Malaysian Chinese, Malays, Malaysian Indians, Orang Asal, mixed Malaysians and other groups.

Contents

History

Malay labourers were brought over to Australia to work mainly in the copra, sugarcane, pearl diving and trepang industries. In the case of Cocos Islands, the Malays were first brought as slaves under Alexander Hare in 1826, but were then employed as coconut harvesters for copra. Possibly the first Malay immigrant to Australia was a 22-year-old convict named Ajoup who arrived in Sydney on 11 January 1837. Ajoup, described as 'of the Malay faith', had been sentenced in Cape Town, South Africa, to 14 years transportation to New South Wales. He received his ticket of leave—that is, his freedom—in the colony in 1843.

The 1871 colonial census records that 149 Malays were working in Australia as pearl divers in northern and western Australia, labourers in South Australia's mines, and on Queensland's sugar plantations. At Federation in 1901, there were 932 Malay pearl divers in Australia, increasing to 1860 by 1921. [1] :111 In Western Australia and the Northern Territory, Malay pearl divers were recruited through an agreement with the Dutch. By 1875, there were 1800 Malay pearl divers working in Western Australia alone. Most of them returned home when their contracts expired. The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 severely curtailed this community's growth.

Number of permanent settlers arriving in Australia from Malaysia since 1991 (monthly) ABS-3401.0-OverseasArrivalsDeparturesAustralia-PermanentMovementSettlers CountryBirthMajorGroupsSelectedSourceCountries-Original-NumberMovements-Malaysia-A83808775X.svg
Number of permanent settlers arriving in Australia from Malaysia since 1991 (monthly)

Demography

People born in Malaysia as a percentage of the population in Sydney divided geographically by postal area, as of the 2011 census. Australian Census 2011 demographic map - Inner Sydney by POA - BCP field 1680 Malaysia Total.svg
People born in Malaysia as a percentage of the population in Sydney divided geographically by postal area, as of the 2011 census.

At the 2006 Census 92,335 Australian residents stated that they were born in Malaysia. [2] 64,855 Malaysian born Australian residents declared having Chinese ancestry (either alone or with another ancestry), 12,057 declared a Malay ancestry and 5,848 declared an Indian ancestry. The proportion of Malaysian-born individuals in Australia who claim Chinese ancestry is 70.2%, which is markedly different from the proportion of Malaysians in Malaysia who claim Chinese ancestry (22.9%). The proportion of Malaysians in Australia that claim Indian ancestry (6.3%) is similar to the proportion in Malaysia (7.1%). From these statistics, it is clear that migration from Malaysia to Australia has not reflected a cross-section of Malaysia, but rather, is heavily skewed away from the Malay natives and towards the ethnic Chinese community and to a lesser extent the ethnic Indian community.

Religion

Though Islam is the major religion in Malaysia, Islam is the minority religion among Malaysians in Australia. In 2016, 11,633 people from 165,616 Malaysian Australians, or 7% of the Malaysian Australian population, identified as Muslim, up from 7,610 Muslims or 5.2% in 2016. [3]

According to the data from Australian Bureau Statistics in 2016, 24.1% from Malaysian Australians population identifying as Buddhists, 20.9% as No religion, 12.7% as Catholic, 5.6% as Other Christian and 5.2% as Muslim.

According to Australian Bureau Statistics in 2021, 24.1% from Malaysian Australian population identifying as No religion, 23.8% as Buddhists, 11.8% as Catholic, 7.0% as Muslim and 5.9% as Other Christians. [4]

Religion of Malaysian Australians (2021) [5]

   Christianity (35.8%)
   No religion (26.6%)
   Buddhism (23.8%)
   Islam (7.0%)
  Others (6.9%)

Languages

Slightly more than half (46,445) had Australian citizenship, [6] and 47,521 had arrived in Australia in 1989 or earlier. [6] 32,325 spoke English at home, 24,347 spoke Cantonese, 18,676 spoke Mandarin and 5,329 spoke Malay. [6] Malaysian Australians were resident in Melbourne (29,174), Sydney (21,211) and Perth (18,993). [7]

Notable Malaysian Australians

NameBorn – DiedNotable forConnection with AustraliaConnection with Malaysia
Che'Nelle [8] 1983–singerlives in Australiaborn Kota Kinabalu [9]
Eddie Woo 1985–mathematics teacherborn in Camperdown, New South Wales Parents migrated from Malaysia
Dr Yvonne Ho AMpublic speaker, businesswoman, educator, medical specialist, philanthropistfirst Malaysian-born woman to receive Order of Australia award [10] born in Malaysia
Chandran Kukathas 1957–political theorist, professor and head of Department of Government, London School of Economics studied and taught in Australia from 1970s to 2000sborn in Malaysia
Diana Chan 1988– MasterChef Australia winnerLiving in Australiaborn in Malaysia
Remy Hii 1986/87–actorlives in Australiaof Malaysian descent [11]
Nick Kyrgios 1995–Professional tennis playerborn in Canberra mother is Malaysian [12]
Kamahl [13] 1934–singerlives in Australia; immigrated 1953born Kuala Lumpur [14]
Brendan Gan [15] 1988–football (soccer) playerlives in Australiaof Malaysian descent
Matthew Davies 1995–football (soccer) playerborn in Perth, lives in Australiaof Malaysian descent
Adam Liaw [16] 1978–lawyer, author and television cheflives in Australia; immigrated 1980born in Penang [17]
Cheong Liew [18] cheflives in Australia; immigrated 1969born Kuala Lumpur [18]
Chong Lim [19] musician, music directorlives in Australiaborn Ipoh [20]
Omar Musa [21] 1984–author, poet and rapperborn in Queanbeyan of Malaysian descent [22]
Guy Sebastian [23] 1981–singerlives in Australia; immigrated as childborn Klang [24]
Pria Viswalingam [25] 1962–documentary and film makerworks in Australiaborn Malaysia
James Wan [26] 1977–film director, screenwriter and producerbrought up in Australia and studied thereborn Kuching [27]
Penny Wong [28] 1968–politician, leader of the Australian Labor Party in the Senate, former Finance Ministerlives in Australia; Australian mother; immigrated 1977 [29] born Kota Kinabalu, [30] Chinese Malaysian father
Poh Ling Yeow [31] 1973–artist and television chefmoved to Adelaide in 1982born and raised in Kuala Lumpur [32]
Geraldine Viswanathan 1995–ActressBorn in AustraliaFather is Malaysian
Vivien Tan?–former model, 1-time actress in British-Australian TV series The Other Side of Paradise, former Channel [V] VJ, and present TV host, chef and entrepreneurAustralian mother, lived in Australia to studyMalaysian father
Lina Teoh 1976–model, actress, TV host, former Channel [V] VJ, and former beauty queen (Miss World 1998)born and grew up in Melbourne Chinese Malaysian father
Ian Goodenough 1975–politician, member of Liberal Party of Australia migrated to Australia as a child in 1984, naturalized Australian citizen in 1987partial Chinese Malaysian descent
Sam Lim 1961–politician, member of the Australian Labor Party migrated to Australia in 2005born in Muar
Ronny Chieng 1985–comedian and actorperformed in Australia and studied thereborn in Johor Bahru

See also

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References

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Further reading