Sikhism in Malaysia


It is estimated that there are around 100,000 Sikhs in Malaysia.

Early Sikh pioneers

Despite the popular belief that Sikhs were brought to the then Malaya as police and soldiers, historically it is proven that Sikhs were actually sent to Malaya as political prisoners. The first few Sikhs to set foot in Malaya were Nihal Singh and Kharak Singh, who were thrown out of India due to anti-British involvement somewhere around 1800. These prisoners were sent to the Outram Road prison in what is now Singapore. In 1865, it is believed that the process of migration of Sikhs to Malaysia started again but this time involved recruitment in the armed forces in the British Empire mainly as police, military and guards.

Sikh Community and migration

Regular Sikh migration to Malaya started here in 1873. The Sikh community is the largest here among Southeast and East Asia. The earliest Sikhs settlers were Policemen. The first Sikh Gurdwara was set up in Cornwallis in 1873 inside police Lines. The first public Sikh Gurdwara was set up in 1903 in Penang. Sikhs occupied top positions in Military and Police during the British rule of Malaysia. There are as many as 15 Sikh Gurdwaras in Kuala Lumpur alone more than the number of mosques there, despite Muslims being the dominant demographic in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysian Sikhs are deep-rooted in Sikh culture more than Sikh diaspora anywhere in the world and are assimilated in mainstream keeping their identity intact.
A group of Sikh businessmen in Malaysia has set up a network of International Sikh Entrepreneurs to promote their products and services and generate opportunities among members.

Gurdwaras in Malaysia

There are a total of 119 gurdwaras throughout Malaysia. 42 of them are situated in the state of Perak, where the majority of Sikhs in Malaysia resides.
, including Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Indians and Malaysian Chinese, are systematically, officially and legally violated regularly in an institutionalised manner to induce forced conversions and ethnic cleansing to homogenise society to Islam.
In 2017,A teaching module published by a leading Malaysian university depicted Hindus in India as unclean and dirty in a slide. Another slide aimed at teaching the origins of Sikhism claimed that founder Guru Nanak had a poor understanding of Islam and had combined it with his surrounding Hindu lifestyle in forming the early foundation of the Sikh faith. A police report was lodged by the chairman of the Hindu Dharma Association of Malaysia in Sungai Petani district against UTM. Malaysia's Minister of Health, Deputy Minister of Education and others had condemned this incident.Due to these condemnations, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia was forced to apologize.