KL blasts U.S. over religious freedom report
KL blasts U.S. over religious freedom report
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Mainly-Muslim Malaysia blasted the U.S. government on Sunday over a report accusing it of restricting religious freedom, with a deputy minister describing it as "irresponsible and untruthful."
"It is shocking for the U.S. State Department to issue such a misleading, irresponsible and untruthful report," Deputy Information Minister Khalid Yunus told AFP.
"The whole world knows the religious freedom that exists in Malaysia, that we have close relationships and understanding among the people as far as freedom of religion is concerned.
"They can come here and see for themselves how tolerant we are," he said.
Khalid urged the U.S. government to ensure that future reports were factually correct in order not to create "unnecessary animosity" in bilateral relations.
The annual International Religious Freedom Report issued by the U.S. State Department listed Malaysia alongside Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Brunei, Belarus, Eritrea, Moldova and Israel as among nine countries with laws or policies that favored certain religions and placed others at a disadvantage.
The report said such policies curtailed religious freedom, citing for example the difficulty of a Muslim in Malaysia to switch religion.
Racial issues are sensitive in Malaysia, where there is a large ethnic Chinese and Hindu community alongside the majority Muslims who make-up some 60 percent of Malaysia's 25 million population.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who leads a coalition of multi-racial parties, has also rejected the U.S. report, saying the fact that all Malaysians celebrated together the various festivities of the major religions was a mark of tolerance.
"Ask the Christians, Buddhists and Hindus who have their churches and temples here. Don't ask me. If I talk, they will not believe. Ask others and they will tell you we practice religious freedom," he said over the weekend.
"What they are saying is all not true."