Malaysian diaspora

Overseas Malaysian
Total population
(700,000–1,000,000)
Regions with significant populations
 Christmas Island
Minority populations		 More than 981[1]
 Singapore 385,979[2]
 Australia 92,337[3]
 Brunei 70,000[4][5]
 United Kingdom 63,000
 United States 26,179[6]
 China 15,000[7]
 New Zealand 14,547[8]
 Canada 12,165
 Taiwan 10,000[9]
 Japan 8,115[10]
 United Arab Emirates 6,000
 Qatar 5,000[11]
 India 2,500
Languages
Languages of Malaysia and various languages of the countries they inhabit
Religion
Religion in Malaysia

The Malaysian diaspora are Malaysian emigrants from Malaysia and their descendants that reside in a foreign country. Population estimates vary from a conservative seven hundred thousand to one million diaspora, both descendants of early emigrants from Malaysia, as well as more recent emigrants from Malaysia. The largest of these foreign communities are on the Australian external territory of Christmas Island where they make up the majority as well as significant minorities in Singapore, Australia, Brunei and the United Kingdom.

Emigration from Malaysia is a complex demographic phenomenon existing for decades and having a number of reasons. The process is the reverse of the immigration to Malaysia. Malaysia does not keep track of emigration, and counts of Malaysians abroad are thus only available courtesy of statistics kept by the destination countries.

Since independence, a total of 688,766 naturalised foreigners had been granted Malaysian citizenship while 10,828 individuals had their citizenships revoked.[12][13]

Reasons of emigration

Malaysia is a net immigration country, meaning more people are arriving to Malaysia. than leaving it. Many of the emigrants from Malaysia do not plan to become permanent emigrants, but to be expatriates (expats) for a limited amount of time. There is a scarcity of official records in this domain. Given the high dynamics of the emigration-prone groups, emigration from Malaysia remains indiscernible from temporary country leave.

Citizenship

Malaysians can only lose their citizenship in a very limited number of ways, and anyone born to at least one Malaysian parent, or born on Malaysian soil, is considered to be a Malaysian citizen. It is not automatic for a child born abroad to one Malaysian parent to obtain Malaysian citizenship if the Malaysian parent has been living abroad for a long time. Few Malaysians living abroad renounce their citizenship, with the long-term trend being in the low-hundreds per year.

Malaysians residing overseas who have not registered as a Normal Elector before or who wish to be registered as an Absent Voter to participate in any Malaysian election may register with the respective consulate generals, embassies or high commissioners.[16][17] As of 2013, only 8,756 Malaysians (1%) out of over 700,000 Malaysians living abroad have registered as postal voters. 6,092 of the 8,756 registered citizens overseas or 69.82% had cast their votes at 100 Malaysian missions worldwide for the Malaysian general election, 2013.[18]

Population by continent

The list below is of the main countries hosting Malaysian populations. Those shown first with exact counts are enumerations of Malaysians who have immigrated to those countries and are legally resident there, does not include those who were born there to one or two Malaysian parents, does not necessarily include those born in Malaysia to parents temporarily in Malaysia and moved with parents by right of citizenship rather than immigration, and does not necessarily include temporary expatriates.

Continent / CountryArticlesOverseas Malaysian Population
Asia516,816
 Singapore385,979[2]
 Brunei70,000[4][5]
 China15,000[7]
 Taiwan10,000[9][19]
 Japan8,115[10]
 United Arab EmiratesExpatriates in the United Arab Emirates#Malaysians6,000
 Qatar5,000[11]
 IndiaMalaysians in India2,500[20]
Oceania107,865
 AustraliaMalaysian Australian92,337[3][21]
 Christmas IslandChristmas Island#DemographicsMore than 981
 New ZealandMalaysian New Zealander14,547[8]
Europe63,000
 United KingdomMalaysians in the United Kingdom63,000
Americas38,344
 United StatesMalaysian American26,179[6]
 CanadaMalaysian Canadian12,165[22]

Asia

Many Malaysians have relatives in Brunei, similar to Singapore, especially the Bruneian Malay. There are approximately 9% Malaysian diaspora in Brunei.

As of 2012 there are 15000 Malaysians studying in China.

Malaysians in India consist of expatriates and international students from Malaysia as well as Indian people of Malaysian descent. Most of them are Malaysians of Indian origin. As of 2011, an estimated 2,500 Malaysians, mostly working for Malaysian-based companies as well as 2,000 students, reside in India, mainly in South India.[20]

The overseas Malaysian diaspora in Singapore is one of the largest with the number standing at 385,979 in 2010, with most of them being ethnic Chinese.

There were 6,000 Malaysians living and working in the United Arab Emirates as of 2010.

There are around 5,000 Malaysians living and working in Qatar as of 2013 statistics.

Around ten thousand Malaysian students have benefited from Taiwan's overseas compatriot education policy, with the country looking for more Malaysian students.[19]

Oceania

At the 2006 Census 92,335 Australian residents stated that they were born in Malaysia.[21] 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.

As of 2006 census, there is around 14,547 Malaysian-born people lived in New Zealand.

Europe

The Malaysian community in the UK is one of the west's largest, this is mainly due to the influence of the British Empire on Malaysia. The 2001 UK Census recorded 49,886 Malaysian-born people, with September 2009 Office for National Statistics estimates putting the figure at around 63,000.

Americas

According to answers provided to an open-ended question included in the 2010 United States Census, 26,179 people said that their ancestry or ethnic origin was Malaysian.

The Canada 2006 Census recorded 12 165 people self-identifying as Malaysian Canadian, but only 1 820 of these self-identified as exclusively Malaysian Canadian.[22]

References

  1. ↑ Simone Dennis (2008). Christmas Island: An Anthropological Study. Cambria Press. pp. 91–. ISBN 9781604975109.
  2. 1 2 "GE14: 500,000 Malaysian voters in Singapore to generate friction". The Malaysian Insider. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  3. 1 2 "20680-Country of Birth of Person (full classification list) by Sex - Australia" (Microsoft Excel download). 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  4. 1 2 "Leveraging on Malaysian diaspora". The Star. 16 March 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  5. 1 2 Soong Siew Hoong (29 March 2012). "Some Statistics on Malaysian Working in Overseas Countries in OIC; Commonwealth; BRICS; PIIGS; UN" (PDF). Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Total ancestry categories tallied for people with one or more ancestry categories reported 2010 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  7. 1 2 Sara Cluster (21 August 2012). "Malaysia PM: study hard abroad and return home". The Pie News. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Table 8: New Zealand resident population born in Asia, 1986-2006" (PDF). Asia New Zealand Foundation. p. 12/14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  9. 1 2 Lim Mun Fah (22 July 2010). "More expensive to study in China than Taiwan". AsiaOne. Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  10. 1 2 "Japan-Malaysia Relations (Basic Data)". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan. 7 September 2015. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Population of Qatar by nationality". Bq Magazine. 18 December 2013. Archived from the original on 23 April 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  12. ↑ Laili (29 March 2016). "688,766 foreigners granted citizenship since Independence - Home Ministry". New Straits Times. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  13. ↑ Martin Carvalho (29 March 2016). "Zahid: Close to 700,000 granted citizenship since Merdeka". The Star. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  14. ↑ "Putting the Malaysian diaspora into perspective". Stanford University. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 "The Heat Online - A different Malaysian perspective". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "High Commission of Malaysia". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  17. ↑ "Malaysia Votes » Exercising your right to vote as a student abroad". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  18. ↑ "Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia - GE13: Collect your unused ballots, EC tells overseas voters - Home". Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  19. 1 2 "Facing brain drain, Taiwan looks to poach Malaysian students". The Malay Mail. 15 September 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  20. 1 2 "MALAYSIANS IN INDIA TOLD TO REGISTER AT HIGH COMMISSION", Yahoo Malaysia News, 4 June 2011.
  21. 1 2 "20680-Ancestry (full classification list) by Sex - Australia" (Microsoft Excel download). 2006 Census. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 19 May 2008.
  22. 1 2 "Ethnic Origin (247), Single and Multiple Ethnic Origin Responses (3) and Sex (3) for the Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data". Canada 2006 Census. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2012.
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