The government informs the citizenry on proper behavior and attitudes, and ensures that Muslim civil servants take courses in Sunni Islam.
If someone blasphemes or otherwise engages in deviant behavior, Malaysia punishes such transgression with Sharia or through legislation such as the Penal Code.
Sharia courts deal with matters that involve Islamic law: marriage, inheritance, apostasy, religious conversion, and custody among others.
Muslims who deviate from accepted Sunni principles may be detained and subjected to mandatory "rehabilitation" in centers that teach and enforce government-approved Islamic practices.
The printing, sale, distribution, or possession of any banned book is punishable by up to three years imprisonment and/or a fine of 20,000 ringgits.
On 3 March 2008, a Sharia Court sentenced Kamariah Ali, 57, who converted from Islam to the banned group, to two years imprisonment for apostasy.
[4] On February 12, 2008, the Internal Security Ministry issued a directive to the Catholic Church to stop using the word "Allah" in its weekly publication, The Herald.
The Malaysian Council of Churches accused ministry officials of overstepping their authority by confiscating literature that was not meant for Muslims.
[4] In August 2007, the government of Malaysia suspended for one month the operations of a daily Makkal Osai (in the Tamil language) for violating the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
[2] On 23 January 2006, the National Fatwa Council, Malaysia's highest Islamic authority, banned Muslims from taking part in the activities associated with Black Metal music.
Datuk Mustafa Abdul Rahman, the director-general of the Islamic Development Department, told a press conference on 27 January 2006, that Black Metal often led its followers to worship Satan, rebel, kill, and incite hatred.
Though he could have been sentenced to two to five years in jail for "acting in a manner which could lead to disharmony between Christians and Muslims," a judge ordered that he be deported.