International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 24 [Special Issue – December 2012] 197 Knowledge, Religious Beliefs and Perception towards Organ Donation from Death Row Prisoners from the Prespective of Patiens and Non-Patients in Malaysia: A Preliminary Study Nur Idayu Badrolhisam Faculty of Business Management Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Zukarnain Zakaria International Business School Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 54100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Abstract There are not many organ donors in Malaysia compared to other countries. According to several studies conducted, Malaysia is one of the lowest countries in term of organ donation rate although there are abundant of patients listed for organ transplants. Many reasons being made to why there are shortages of organ donors in Malaysia such as the lack of knowledge about organ donation, and the barrier from religious perspectives. The objectives of this study are to find out Malaysians’ basic knowledge on organ donation and their religious perspectives on organ donation. The study also explores the Malaysians’ perceptions in accepting organs donated by death row prisoners, should they find out on the matter. Questionnaires were created to collect data from respondents through convenient sampling of 213 samples. The results obtained showed that many Malaysians are aware of the shortage of organ donors in Malaysia, but most of them are not. Some of them also stated that, they would still donate their organs even if their religious believes oppose organ donations. Conversely, the study found out positive feedbacks from many Malaysians upon organ donation from death row prisoners. Keywords: Knowledge, religious beliefs, organ donation, death row prisoners 1.0 Introduction Over the years the demand for organs transplant was in the increasing trend. Subsequently, shortage of organs also becomes a global concern. For instance, in the United States (U.S) more than 90,000 patients are waiting for organ transplants (United Network for Organ Sharing, 2011). Because of the shortage, it’s was reported that annually around 10,000 to 12,000 people in the U.S, who are eligible to receive organs donation, died. In comparison, there are only around 6,000 living donors who donate their organs (Center for Organ Recovery and Education, 2002). The main source of organs donors come from brain dead donors and non-heart beating donors (Sanford, 2011). Similar situation also happened in many other countries. In Malaysia, for instance, the waiting list for renal transplants in year 2011 was 12,000 patients. These patients faced end stage of renal failure due to long waiting lists (The Borneo Post, 2011). The WHO’s report in 2010 illustrates Malaysia as one of the lowest organ donation countries. Its was reported that Malaysia has only 4,328 pledged organ donors since 1997 as compared with an estimate of 14,000 patients in need for organs transplant (Bernama, 2012). As a consequence, patients have to wait as long as 16 years to receive organs donations (Tan, 2012). There are many discouraging factors that may contribute to the shortage of organs supply globally. Some economists argued that the gap between the demand and the supply of organs is caused by the equilibrating obstacles, in which no country is allowing financial incentives to the donators for organs acquiring (Becker and Elias, 2003).