Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi hailed the country's religious tolerance as he met top Christian leaders, saying that Muslims and non-Muslims have learnt to attain their highest religious aspirations within the multiracial society.
'Malaysia has become for all the world the best and clearest example of a Muslim majority nation in which racial and religious harmony prevail and religious tolerance is practised as second nature by its citizens,' he said, addressing a Christmas Day gathering on Thursday.
'While we must never let our guard down against extremism or intolerance from whatever quarter, we have become more and more confident in our essential plurality,' Datuk Seri Abdullah said.
Malaysian Muslims and non-Muslims have 'learnt to work out their highest religious aspirations within the real multiracial country that they live in, rather than in a dangerous fantasy land or a pure race or a pure religion', he said.
'In Islam, as I think it must be in Christianity too, this recognition of the rights of others, of the rights of the minority, even if their practices are very different from ours, is part of the true practice of religion, not a compromise,' he told the audience.
The Prime Minister said Malaysia's multi-ethnic, multi-communal and multi-religious society was a gift given for the people to work with and not some kind of a problem to be eradicated.
'And in accepting this gift, we shall become better Muslims, better Christians, Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, Sikhs and so on,' he said.
About 200 people attended the gathering that was organised by the Christian Federation of Malaysia.
Earlier, the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Malaysia, Reverend Julius D'Paul, welcomed Datuk Seri Abdullah and said his 'gentle yet firm approach would go a long way towards winning the hearts and minds of all Malaysians'.
He said the new Prime Minister had the support of Malaysian Christians.
Datuk Seri Abdullah's remarks follow his rejection earlier this week of a United States report that accused his government of restricting religious freedom.
The annual International Religious Freedom Report issued by the US State Department listed Malaysia alongside Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Brunei, Belarus, Eritrea, Moldova and Israel as among nine countries with laws or policies that favoured certain religions and placed others at a disadvantage.
Datuk Seri Abdullah had pointed out that the fact that all Malaysians jointly celebrated the various festivities of the major religions was a mark of tolerance.
This year, he became the first premier to send personal Christmas cards to 1,500 pastors and Christian leaders in the country.
Racial issues are sensitive in Malaysia, where there is a large ethnic Chinese and Hindu community alongside the 60 per cent Muslims.