Page 22 - A Study of Traditional Chinese Religions in Malaysia: The Decline and the Path Towards Revitalization

be made. This research is of the view that conversion out of TCR for Chinese Malaysians to
other religions or to become atheists are caused by multiple micro, meso and macro factors

that are shaping the Chinese social eco-systems. At the micro level, traditional Chinese
religions failed to attract some Chinese Malaysians due to the fact that the religions could no
longer satisfy their quest for spiritual guidance. Family and other social institutions are

becoming more receptive to non-TCR. The decline could also be caused by the development
of scientific, modern and westernized worldviews. Meanwhile, at the institutional level, some

TCR organisations such as temples are not adapting to current needs. Many of these
organizations are relatively passive in promoting TCR. It is also possible that they do not
have sufficient financial as well as human resources for promotional initiatives.

In order to confirm whether these factors are causing TCR to decline, the research

that was carried out throughout 2021 and 2022 tried to answer the following research
questions and objectives:

Research questions

1. How do Malaysian Chinese perceive TCR?
2. What are the reasons that have caused some Chinese to convert to non-TCR?
3. How do TCR institutions/leaders deal with changes in the perceptions of the Chinese
towards TCR?

Research objectives

1. To elaborate on the views of Malaysian Chinese on TCR.
2. To analyse the reasons behind Malaysian Chinese’s religious conversion.
3. To explore how religious institutions/leaders deal with changing perceptions among
the Chinese towards TCR.

1.5 Carrying Out the Research

In order to answer the above research questions and achieve the objectives, both qualitative
as well as quantitative approaches have been used to collect the relevant data. This design
is used to examine data that requires more in-depth discussions and to validate the data that

has been collected on a group of respondents. In general, this research is divided into four
sections. The sections are:

Section 1

This section focuses on Malaysian Chinese who have not converted and are still practicing
TCR. This section investigates their perceptions towards religion and TCR. This section also

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