The Malaysian Association of America celebrating 38th anniversary and 65th Independence Day of Malaysia - 2

Malaysian Americans (Orang Malaysia di Amerika) are

Americans Americans are the citizens and nationals of the United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many dual citizens, expatriates, and permanent residents could also legally claim Ame ...

of Malaysian ancestry. Rather than a single ethnic group, Malaysian Americans descend from a variety of ethnic groups that inhabit the

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

n country of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

, all of which speak different languages and profess different cultures and beliefs, including Malay, Chinese and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

, as Malaysian is primarily a national identification. According to answers provided to an open-ended question included in the 2019 US Census, 38,227 people said that their ancestry or ethnic origin was Malaysian. The top 15 counties of settlement for Malaysian immigrants from 2015 - 2019 out of a national total of 76,500 were:

History and associations

Malaysians have been coming to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the West Coast of the U.S., and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

since the 1970s for job and educational opportunities, partly because of political and economic tensions in

. Although some students later found jobs in U.S. companies, many students from Chicago returned to Malaysia after their education ended. Community leaders in 2001 estimated that the Malaysian population of metropolitan Chicago had decreased to 600-700 individuals. There are three Malaysian government offices in the U.S. whose goal is to assist and supervise Malaysian students. One of them is the Malaysian Student Department (MSD) in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, ...

, which covers the midwestern part of the U.S. MSD sponsors several events each year for students in the region, including the celebration of Malaysian independence, the Midwest Games (a three-day sporting competition), and Ambassador Award Night, whose function is recognizing the academic achievements of Malaysian students. Malaysian Americans have created several

community association A community association is a nongovernmental association of participating members of a community, such as a neighborhood, village, condominium, cooperative, or group of homeowners or property owners in a delineated geographic area. Participatio ...

s in the U.S. The Malaysian American Society was founded in 1967 to promote cultural exchanges between Malaysia and the U.S. Other community organizations include the Malaysian Association of Georgia and the Malaysian Association of Southern California. Malaysian Americans also have created several educational associations. The Malaysian Students Association at the University of Michigan fosters friendships among Malaysian students. The objective of the Malaysia Student Association of St. Louis, Missouri is to maintain close relationships among students after their college graduation. The Malaysian Students Association at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

is an organization that represents the Malaysian student community while promoting Malaysia's unique cultural identity at Ohio State. Other educational associations include the University of California-Berkeley Alumni Club of Malaysia and the Harvard Club of Malaysia plus associations at the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

and the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Malaysian Americans today

The Malaysia Association of America, based in the area of the Chinatown, Flushing in New York City, was credited by the

Consul General A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

of Malaysia in New York for getting the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

to declare August 31, 2008, to be "Malaysian American Day". In 2018, Jocelyn Yow, at the age of 23, became the first Malaysian American to be elected to public office in the United States. She is currently serving as the Mayor Pro Tem for the City of Eastvale in Riverside County, California.

Malaysian Islamic Study Group

The Malaysian Islamic Study Group (MISG) was founded in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria Metropolitan Area in Ce ...

in 1976 with the main objective to assist the Malaysian students in walking the path of success while they are in America/Canada, fulfilling their responsibilities as students, as members of their communities and as servants of Allah. After more than 30 years of its establishment, MISG has a sizeable number of members in almost each university in America which has Malaysian students. In relation to all the other Islamic organizations in America, MISG is viewed as a foreigners-based Muslim student group that emerged from the

Islamic Society of North America The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a nonprofit organization based in Plainfield, Indiana. It provides a number of programs and services to the Muslim community and broader society. ISNA holds an annual convention which is generally re ...

. Despite claims that MISG's founding was influenced by the ideology of

Abul Ala Maududi Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the part ...

,M. Kamal Hassan (2003) ''The Influence of Mawdūdī's Thought on Muslims in Southeast Asia: A Brief Survey'', The Muslim World 93 (3-4), 429–464 no evidence indicates such opinions. MISG is by and large an independent organization without binding allegiances to any other organizations.

History and associations

Malaysian Americans today

Malaysian Islamic Study Group

See also

References

Further reading