^{Research methods}

^{1. Review of existing legislations and fatwas}

^{Copies of the legislations and fatwas were obtained from multiple government databases such as  E-Syariah, E-Smaf, Current Law Journal, Lawnet and LexisNexis. Other sources of information include the websites of the Department of Syariah Judiciary Malaysia (JKSM) and the State Fatwa Committee from various states and the Attorney General’s Chamber Malaysia. In case the latest legislations cannot be obtained, the copies were procured directly from MDC Publisher.} 

^{2. Peer review} 

^{Collected data were peer reviewed by co-researchers to verify the accuracy, relevance and reliability to proceed with any revisions or corrections.}

^{3. Consultation with experts} 

^{Several consultations with experts and practitioners working in the area of FoRB were organised from time to time to improve data collection and data review.} 

^{Research Limitations} 

^{1. Outdated legislations on E-Syariah} 

^{Some Syariah Criminal legislations are not updated based on the latest date of amendment. Some legislations are not available in both Bahasa Malaysia and English.}

^{2. Non-responsiveness of the public officials}

^{E- Syariah is managed by the Department of Syariah Judiciary Malaysia (JKSM). However, many attempts of calling and emailing to procure the updated legislations were not being responded by the public officials.} 

^{3. Scarcity of Syariah legislations on other databases}

^{Other paid legal databases namely LexisNexis, Law Net and CLJ do not provide Syariah legislations of other states except the Federal Territories’,  even though they are equally a codified legal statute.}

 

^{1. Overlapping legal provisions}

^{a. Most of the provisions can be used or combined with other provisions to prosecute suspect(s) of broad moral crimes due to its generality and ambiguity. For example, ‘insult to religion’ and ‘opinion contrary to fatwa’ can be used or combined for criminal charges against critical thinkers and individuals from religious or sexual minority groups.}

^{2. Legislations}

^{a. Many legislations were enacted in 1990s during the period of rapid bureaucratisation of religion.}

^{b. Many legislations were amended in 2000s and 2010s with new provisions and increased punishments.}

^{c. Many legislations contain provisions against excommunication (takfir), but on the contrary only Sunni Islam is recognised by the state. In addition, there are other provisions and fatwas that prohibit certain denominations or sects which in this case promotes deeper sectarianism.}

^{3. Punishments}

^{a. Syariah courts can hand out a maximum sentence of 3-year imprisonment, RM5,000 fine and six-stroke whipping or in any combination thereof according to each offence.}

^{b. Other punishments such as confiscation and rehabilitation are common for offences related to apostasy, blasphemy and increasingly convicted sexual minority offenders.}

^{c. Terengganu and Kelantan passed the harshest Syariah criminal enactments (Hudud and Qisas) in 2002 and 2015, respectively at the state legislative assembly. But the enforcement of these laws is halted because it is contrary to the federal constitution. Nevertheless, the political pressure to enable its enforcement through RUU355 amendment persists at the federal level.}

^{4. Fatwas}

^{a. Fatwas were issued by the respective state fatwa council in response to current issues impacting Muslims’ faith or rites.}

^{b. Most fatwas were issued to restrict religious minorities’ rights and critical thinking and culture.}

^{c. Not many fatwas that call for positive actions against violence and extremism especially in response to terrorism series in the early 2000s and 2010s.}

 

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^{1. Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Act 355)} 

 

^{Five types of offence that impact FoRB namely anti-blasphemy, anti-apostasy, prosecution of religious minorities, prosecution of sexual minorities and prosecution of critical thinking and culture are collated in the database.}

^{1. Anti-blasphemy}

^{Anti-blasphemy provisions sanction insults or dissenting views against state religion and seek to punish individuals for allegedly offending, insulting or denigrating religious doctrines, symbols, authorities or institutions.} 

^{2. Anti-apostasy}

^{Apostasy (murtad) is defined as the abandonment of one or all core religious beliefs of Islamic pillars such as belief in Allah and prophet Muhammad (syahadah), prayer, fasting (ramadhan), zakat and pilgrimage by renouncing it or converting to another religion or not believing at all. Apostasy is punishable under law. The law also covers the propagation of religious doctrine other than Islam and giving away child to a non-Muslim person.}

^{3. Prosecution of religious minorities}

^{The state only recognises Sunni Islam as the official religion of the federation. Hence, in the gazetted fatwas, non-Sunni denominations are considered deviant. Religious minorities include Shia, Ahmadiyya, some forms of Sufi Tariqat, as well as the non-denominational groups such as critical or liberal Muslims, and religious-based cult groups such as Ayah Pin and Millah Ibrahim. Any forms of practice by the religious minority groups are punishable under law for false worship, false doctrine and teaching without permission (tauliyah) and propagation of religious doctrine.}

^{4. Prosecution of sexual minorities}

^{Sexual minorities include a variety of gender and sexual identities and expressions that differ from heterosexual norms such as lesbian, gay and transgender individuals. They can be prosecuted for expressing their gender identities and sexual orientations such as crossdressing, sodomy (liwat), lesbian sex (musahaqah), etc.}

^{5. Prosecution of critical thinking and culture}

^{Critical thinking refers to independent reasoning (ijtihad) in the interpretation of Islamic texts and doctrines. Meanwhile, culture refers to the customary beliefs, identities and rituals belonging to certain ethnic groups. In the gazetted fatwas, critical thinking and local culture which are seen incompatible with the state religion including the prohibition of certain intellectual publications and cultural dances or ceremonies are punishable under law.}

 

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<sup>1. Press Release, Human Rights First, Compendium Details Blasphemy Laws Challenging Human Rights Worldwide (May 22, 2014), http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/resource/compendium-blasphemy-laws
2. Cochat Costa Rodrigues, M., Leite, F., & Queirós, M. (2017). Sexual minorities: The terminology. European Psychiatry, 41(S1), S848-S848. doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.1680 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924933817316954</sup>

 

^{1. Overview} 

^{a. Interactive Map Visualisation – The Map Visualisation shows the Count of Provision (Enactment/Act) and Count of Fatwas in every state in Malaysia. The map allows zooming in and out, panning around and identifying specific features indicated in the small filter that is labelled as ‘type of offence’. The filter is positioned in the right-upper corner of the map.} 

^{1. There are four types of offence in the map filter:} 

^{a. Anti-apostasy}

^{b. Anti-blasphemy}

^{c. Prosecution of Critical Thinking and Culture}

^{d. Prosecution of Religious Minorities}

^{e. Prosecution of Sexual Minorities}

^{2. A ‘tooltip’ will appear when you click on a respective state. Each tooltip entails:}

^{a. State}

^{b. Provision (Enactment/Act) Count}

^{c. Fatwa Count}

^{d. Type of Offence}

^{b. Data Table – The Data Table, on the other hand, breaks down the data contained in the Interactive Map Visualisation. Below are the listed columns in the Data Table.} 

^{1. Location}

^{2. Type of Offence}

^{3. Jurisdiction}

^{4. Source of Law}

^{5. Name of Law}

^{6. Date of Law}

^{7. Year of Latest Amendment}

^{8. Number of Provision}

^{9. Heading of Provision}

^{10. Type of Punishment}

^{c. Compatibility}

^{1. On web browsers}

^{a. Chrome on Windows and Mac}

^{b. Microsoft Edge on Windows}

^{c. Mozilla Firefox & Firefox ESR on Windows and Mac}

^{d. Apple Safari on Mac}

^{2. On mobile devices}

^{a. Chrome on Android}

^{b. Apple Safari on iOS 11.3 or later}

^{c. Tableau Mobile iOS and Android Apps, available at the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, respectively}

 

^{2. Interactive Map Visualisation}

^{a. Navigating the map (desktop)} 

^{1. Moving the map} 

^{a. By using the map view toolbar: In the upper-left corner of the map view, the view toolbar lets you zoom in, zoom out, pan the view and select data points. Use the map view toolbar to navigate the map.} 

^{b. By using your cursor: You may also click and drag your cursor to move around the map and double click several times on the area that you want to focus on to zoom in.}

^{2. Viewing the tooltip}

^{a. Click on a respective state to view the tooltip. Each state shows a total number of provisions and number of fatwas..} 

^{3. Checking the source link}

^{a. Step 1 – Hover your cursor over  the desired state (state)}

^{b. Step 2 – Click on the event}

^{c. Step 3 – Click on the table button (view data)}

^{d. Step 4 – Copy the link in ‘Source Link Clean’ column and paste it in a browser to access}

^{4. Using the dashboard filter}

^{a. The dashboard filter is available to help view specific categories of data. Please click on the respective box and select anything that applies to help you narrow down the data that you are searching for.} 

^{b. As for the date box, you may drag the data slider to adjust the duration of month(s) and year(s) to narrow down your time period. Alternatively, you may manually select the date that applies by clicking on the calendar control to fill in your date selection.} 

^{b. Navigating the map (mobile)}

^{1. Moving the map} 

^{a. By using your finger: Use two fingers to navigate the map and to hover to the desired location on the map. Drag your fingers apart to zoom in, and bring them together to zoom out.}

^{2. Viewing the tooltip}

^{a. Click on a respective state to view the tooltip. Each state shows a total number of provisions and number of fatwas.}

^{3. Checking the source link}

^{a. Step 1 – Hover to the desired event (state)}

^{b. Step 2 – Click on the event}

^{c. Step 3 – Click on the table button (view data)}

^{d. Step 4 – Copy the link in ‘Source Link Clean’ column and paste it in a browser to access}

^{4. Using the dashboard filter}

^{a. The dashboard filter is available to help view specific categories of data. Please click on the respective box and select applicable fields to help you narrow down the data that you are searching for.} 

 

^{3. Data Table}

^{a. Navigating the table (desktop and mobile)} 

^{1. The table breaks down in detail about the legislations and fatwas that impact religious freedom in Malaysia. They are grouped according to:} 

^{a. Location (Name of State)}

^{b. Type of Offence (Anti-Apostasy, Anti-Blasphemy, Prosecution of Critical Thinking and Culture, Prosecution of Religious Minorities and Prosecution of Sexual Minorities)}

^{c. Jurisdiction (Federal or State)}

^{d. Source of Law (Enactment/Act or Fatwa)}

^{e. Name of Law}

^{f. Date of Law}

^{g. Year of Latest Amendment}

^{h. Number of Provision} 

^{i. Heading of Provision}

^{j. Type of Punishment}

^{2. Using the dashboard filter}

^{a. The dashboard filter is available to help view specific categories of data. Please click on the respective box and select applicable fields to help you narrow down the data that you are searching for.} 

^{b. As for the date box, you may drag the data slider to adjust the duration of month(s) and year(s) to narrow down your time period. Alternatively, you may manually select the date that applies by clicking on the calendar control to fill in your date selection.}