Approach to the Christianisation Movement among Orang Asli Muslim in State of Perak, Malaysia

Abstract

Christian movement in Malaysia has been always a controversial debate among Muslims in Malaysia. Their efforts to Christianize Malaysian people including Orang Asli is regarded as a threat to Islam as a largest religion of Malaysia as well as an official religion of the state. This article attempts to analyze Christian missionary approach to deliver their Gospel messages among Orang Asli Muslim in Perak State of Malaysia, one of the 13 Malaysian states. This study focuses on the Orang Asli villages in Gopeng, Kampar and Tapah districts in Perak Darul Ridzuan. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using a semi-structured interview method conducted with six study participants as this is a qualitative research using case study design. The case study was conducted to examine in depth the phenomena related to the Christianization movement carried out by Christian activists through the experience of preachers who have been actively involved in preaching for more than 10 years in Orang Asli villages in Perak. The study found that Christian activities use a specific approach to attract the interest of the Muslim Orang Asli community to Christianity. Such an approach is a planned and structured strategy to win the heart of the Orang Asli. They carried out the effort so pragmatically and convincingly that the Orang Asli Muslims people could be influenced by the religion and eventually left Islam to embrace Christianity. The study also found that, the approach used to influence the Orang Asli community in Perak is the arts approach through entertainment, contextualization approach, humanitarian aid approach, psychological approach through the spread of love and affection message, and leadership cadres approach by appointing priests from the Orang Asli community.