Malaysia is a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy of thirteen states whose king is chosen in rotation by the state rulers. Policy combines Islam as official religion, preferences for Bumiputera Malays and a trade-oriented mixed economy.
In the 12 Axes register, Malaysia leans hardest on Irreligious – Religious: Religious 83%; the register median is Religious 68%.
Take the test and this line shows how close your twelve scores are to Malaysia, and the axis where you differ most.
Where Malaysia sits on each of the twelve axes, in four categories. The label is our estimate; the line under it says why.
Federal
Thirteen states with rotating federal king
Centrist
Elected lower house, coalition government
Statist
Sedition Act and Online Safety Act
Anti-Interventionist
ASEAN member, firm non-alignment
Neutral
Modest forces, UN peacekeeping in Lebanon
Assimilationist
Bumiputera preferences in policy
Mixed Economic
Mixed economy, state investment funds
Balanced
Government-linked companies, targeted subsidies
Free Trade
CPTPP, RCEP and ASEAN trade member
Religious
Islam is the federation's official religion
Traditionalist
Sharia courts, same-sex acts criminalised
Neutral
No distinct state stance
Set against the median of all 195 countries in the register.
Federal – Unitary
On Federal – Unitary, Malaysia is at Federal 68%. The register median is Unitary 68%.
Democratic – Autocratic
On Democratic – Autocratic, Malaysia is at balanced 50%, almost the register median of balanced 50%.
Closeness is 100 minus the root-mean-square distance on all twelve axes.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org · freedomhouse.org
Map: Mr Ikan <*)))><, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped and resized.
Last updated: 2026-10-15
The tiers on this page are our estimates from public positions and policies. They are not an official statement by the person or the government concerned. Two independent passes scored every axis and a third settled the differences. How the register works. Found a mistake? Write to [email protected].
