It all started on a Sunday evening while I was meeting an activist for reproductive rights when I stumbled upon the following news article from Free Malaysia Today:

SUBANG JAYA: Freedom of religion should be applied equally to everyone in the country including the Malays, said PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar.

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The Penang State government recently unveiled their spending plans for the year 2013.

According to the Malaysian Insider, of RM 1.13 billion, RM 46.42 million will be used:

for religious purposes including for upgrading and development of mosques, suraus and public religious schools.

It has been more than a year since the launch of malaysianatheists.org. This site was set up with the hope of being the centre of activism for the atheist community in Malaysia. Over the course of the year, the role of this site has shifted from a centre of activim to a centre of reports on activism.

The following report is a reposting of a report (with minor edits for this site's formatting) by Malaysian Atheists member and Malaysian Atheists Freethinkers, Agnostics and friends (MAFA) administrator Kok Sen Wai. Dr. Kok was instrumental in the organization of the event on the behalf of Malaysian Atheists and has done a fine job despite the extraordinarily abusive work hours a doctor of medicine has to tolerate in a hospital.

The movement for secular freedom in Singapore will progress handsomely now that apostates of Islam in Singapore have decided to band together publicly to fight for their rights to belief and disbelief. Under the name the Murtad Association of Singapore, this group of brave individuals will finally take a stand against years of oppression for no reason other than their refusal to subscribe to the beliefs and practices forced upon them by Islam.

Executive Summary

Issue's brought up included:

• What do atheists believe?
• To form an officially recognised body.
• What are our goals?
• How do we make our case to convince the majority to support the organisation?
• The need to change the mindset of the current political climate where each party challenges one another to more fundamental values to one where each party strives for progressive values.
• The current system of gifting privileges to Islam that results in social inequality.
• The recent bill passed in Kedah that places a religious body above the judiciary.

On the 17th of April 2012, the following article appeared in The Star:

ALOR SETAR: Future fatwa issued by the Kedah mufti or Fatwa Committee cannot be challenged in court under an amendment to the Mufti and Fatwa (Kedah Darul Aman) Enactment 2008 passed by the Kedah State Assembly on Tuesday.

We hereby declare our support for the gathering that is to take place on the 28th of April under the BERSIH 3.0 banner, for free and fair elections. Although this site is devoted to issues of secularism and religious influence in Malaysia, the need for electoral reform affects us all - where even the possibility of not discriminating against a person's religious beliefs in the election of our leaders should be seized upon.

Although no further information is to be gained from the report in The Star regarding the proportion of taxes derived from non-Muslims, what does matter more is the fact that a government with open support of a branch of religion is misappropriating funds that would be better served in other aspects of society, such as scholarships for deserving students.

SHAH ALAM: The federal government on Tuesday handed over RM35.3mil to the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) for payment of allowances for religious activities in the state this year.