The news comes shortly after the government told a Catholic paper last week not to use the word "Allah" to refer to a non-Muslim God, and threatened to revoke its license.
Foreign priests already in the country have only been given six-month renewals and told they must leave after expiry, said the head of the Malaysian Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism.
The council’s president A. Vaithilingam told French News Agency AFP that the restrictions mostly affected ethnic Indian Hindus, who have been at the centre of a discrimination row, and that there would now not be enough priests to conduct prayers.
EXPLANATION DEMAND
"We want an explanation from the prime minister and the government on this," Vaithilingam told AFP. "Why are they carrying out the sudden action to restrict foreign priests from practicing in the country when there are millions of foreign workers who are allowed to work here," he said. However Christian workers were expected to be impacted as well by the latest policy changes.
Immigration department officials have confirmed that visas issued to priests were being restricted but refused to give details. A row over race and religion has gripped Malaysia in recent months. It was triggered by unprecedented protests last November that alleged ethnic Indians faced discrimination at the hands of majority Muslim Malays.
About 60 percent of the nation’s 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims while the rest are mostly ethnic Indians and Chinese who are largely Hindu, Buddhist or Christian, according to estimates. (With BosNewsLife Senior Special Correspondent Eric Leijenaar).
