Many people across the world will be
celebrating Christmas – and Malaysia is no exception. On Christmas Day, I
will have the pleasure of taking part in a tea party with members of
the Christian community to mark Christmas and listen to their views.
Malaysia is of course a majority Muslim
country but Christians do play a full and welcome role in our society –
especially in Sabah and Sarawak. Some people may not realise that
around one in 10 Malaysians count themselves as Christian.
The roots of this can be found in our
country’s rich and varied history. Nestorian Christianity was brought to
the region by Persian and Turkish traders as far back as the 7th
century. The Portuguese then brought Catholicism here in the 15th
century, followed by the Dutch bringing Protestantism in the 17th
century.
