History of the Jews in Malaysia

The history of the Jews in Malaysia reaches back to the 1700s. Jews have lived in Malaysia, whether as immigrants or those originally from the country. The state of Penang was once home to a Jewish community, until the latter part of the 1970s, by which time most had emigrated due to growing state-sanctioned antisemitism. Indications of the growing racial and religious hostility in the nation in response to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has caused many Malaysian Jews to leave or flee the country.^[1] The Malaysian Jewish community consists of Jews of Sephardic origin who live discreetly amongst the Kristang people (Malacca-Portuguese),^[2][3] Mizrahi Jews (the majority of whom are Baghdadi Jews), Malabar Jews, and Ashkenazi Jews.^[4]