In most instances, religious divisions tend to coincide with ethnicity.
Malays, by definition, are Muslims. Islam has been perceived as a
source of identity that has shaped Malay life and worldview. However,
Islam as practiced by Malays has also accommodated some elements of
pre-Islamic Malay adat. Most Chinese are Buddhists. Buddhism as
practiced by them is of Mahayana school and is deeply infused with
Confucianism, Taoism, and other folk beliefs and ancestor worship.
Many Chinese are Christians, and some are Muslims. Majority of Indians
are Hindus, though there are Christians and Muslims among them.
Majority of Bumiputera groups in Sabah and Sarawak are Christians,
though there are also Muslims as well as animists among them. Orang
Asli of peninsula Malaysia practiced some forms of animism, though a
growing number of them have been converted to either Islam or Christianity
in more recent time.