Page 19 - A Study of Traditional Chinese Religions in Malaysia: The Decline and the Path Towards Revitalization

expected to make up 72.4 percent of Malaysia’s population, compared to just 63.7 percent
in 2010 (“Study: By 2050, seven out of 10 Malaysians will be Muslims” 2015). This will have

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an implication on Buddhism in Malaysia as Malaysian Buddhists are predicted to make up
only 10.8 percent of the country’s population by 2050, which is lower than 17.7 percent in
2010. The same study also reveals that the Buddhist population will see the biggest decline

in 2050, compared to the followers of other religions (i.e., Muslims, Christians, Hindus, etc.)
in the country. While the drop in Malaysian Chinese population due to low birth rate is the

main reason that causes this sharp decline, conversion out of TCR is also one of the factors.
Though this statement may sound hypothetical, it may happen since there are already signs
(as discussed above) that show more Chinese converting to Christianity and Islam, and that

many others will declare themselves as atheists.

1.3 Possible Factors Causing the Decline of TCR

The decline of TCR is not only happening in Malaysia. It is happening in China and other

countries that have a sizable Chinese population. The number of Christians in China is
growing fast. In 2020, The Economist estimated that 38 million Chinese have converted to

Protestant Christianity while another 10 to 12 million embraced Catholicism. Based on these
numbers, the Christian population in China is more than the Christian population in France
and Germany (“Protestant Christianity is Booming in China” 2020). A similar trend is

occurring among overseas Chinese. More and more Chinese are converting to Christianity.
For instance, many Chinese who migrated to the United States have accepted

Evangelicalism as their religion. This trend was observed by Wang and Yang (2006). Many
Chinese students studying in the Ivy League and other prestigious universities in the United
States have embraced Christianity. In Singapore, the number of Christians among the

Chinese has increased from two percent in 1920 to 16.5 percent in 2000 (Tong 2007).
Currently, approximately 19 percent of Chinese in Singapore are Christians (Lin 2021).

This phenomenon is caused by multiple social and psychological factors that can be
analysed from the ecological theoretical perspective (Snook, Williams and Horgan 2018).

According to this perspective, as we interact with our surroundings, we are bound to be
shaped by our social ecology. Our social ecology can be divided into three systems - micro,
meso and macro. They play an important role in shaping how individuals construct their social

world. At the micro level, the ‘self’ plays a crucial role. The ‘self’ is innate and is shaped by
multiple psychological factors. One of the innate psychological factors that will cause a

3 Pew Research Centre most probably had used DOSM data to predict. As such, many Chinese have been
classified as Buddhist, though in reality they may not be Buddhist.

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