Malaysian 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.

Malaysian Australians

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[citation needed]
Related ethnic groups
Various ethnic groups of Malaysia, Singaporean Australians, Cocos Malays, Chinese Australians, and Indian Australians

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)

Demography

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]

1. Christianity (35.8%)
2. No religion (26.6%)
3. Buddhism (23.8%)
4. Islam (7.00%)
5. Others (6.90%)

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

Name	Born – Died	Notable for	Connection with Australia	Connection with Malaysia
Nishan Velupillay	2001–	Footballer	Born in Australia, represents Australia in international football	Father is Malaysian with Sri Lankan heritage[8]
Che'Nelle[9]	1983–	singer	lives in Australia	born Kota Kinabalu[10]
Eddie Woo	1985–	mathematics teacher	born in Camperdown, New South Wales	Parents migrated from Malaysia
Dr Yvonne Ho AM		public speaker, businesswoman, educator, medical specialist, philanthropist	first Malaysian-born woman to receive Order of Australia award[11]	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 2000s	born in Malaysia
Diana Chan	1988–	MasterChef Australia winner	Living in Australia	born in Malaysia
Remy Hii	1986/87–	actor	lives in Australia	of Malaysian descent[12]
Nick Kyrgios	1995–	Professional tennis player	born in Canberra	mother is Malaysian[13]
Kamahl[14]	1934–	singer	lives in Australia; immigrated 1953	born Kuala Lumpur[15]
Brendan Gan[16]	1988–	football (soccer) player	lives in Australia	of Malaysian descent
Matthew Davies	1995–	football (soccer) player	born in Perth, lives in Australia	of Malaysian descent
Adam Liaw[17]	1978–	lawyer, author and television chef	lives in Australia; immigrated 1980	born in Penang[18]
Cheong Liew[19]		chef	lives in Australia; immigrated 1969	born Kuala Lumpur[19]
Chong Lim[20]		musician, music director	lives in Australia	born Ipoh[21]
Omar Musa[22]	1984–	author, poet and rapper	born in Queanbeyan	Father is from Malaysia[23]
Guy Sebastian[24]	1981–	singer	lives in Australia; immigrated as child	born Klang[25]
Pria Viswalingam[26]	1962–	documentary and film maker	works in Australia	born Malaysia
James Wan[27]	1977–	film director, screenwriter and producer	brought up in Australia and studied there	born Kuching[28]
Penny Wong[29]	1968–	politician, leader of the Australian Labor Party in the Senate, former Finance Minister	lives in Australia; Australian mother; immigrated 1977[30]	born Kota Kinabalu,[31] Chinese Malaysian father
Poh Ling Yeow[32]	1973–	artist and television chef	moved to Adelaide in 1982	born and raised in Kuala Lumpur[33]
Geraldine Viswanathan	1995–	Actress	Born in Australia	Father 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 entrepreneur	Australian mother, lived in Australia to study	Malaysian 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 1987	partial Chinese Malaysian descent
Sam Lim	1961–	politician, member of the Australian Labor Party	migrated to Australia in 2005	born in Muar
Ronny Chieng	1985–	comedian and actor	performed in Australia and studied there	born in Johor Bahru

See also

• Australia portal
• Malaysia portal

• Islam in Australia
• Asian Australians
• Cocos Malays
• Australia–Malaysia relations
• Malaysian New Zealanders