Non-Muslims in the country are afforded equal opportunities as Muslims, Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
Responding to US President Barack Obama's statement in Malaysia over the weekend that non-Muslims must be accorded equal opportunities in order for Malaysia to progress, Zahid said the government has been "fair to all religions."
"I don't think there are obstacles for anyone to practise their religion.
"You have to respect other religions before they give respect to us," Zahid told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, after officiating a workshop on human trafficking.
Asked about his claim that the government has been fair to all religions despite the unilateral conversion of children to Islam remaining a pertinent issue in the country, Zahid said this was "just a matter of perception".
"That is just perception. The matter is with the court, so we shall leave it at that," he said, referring to the latest case of unilateral conversion to Islam of two minor children of a Muslim convert father and a Hindu mother S Deepa in Seremban.
Zahid was criticised for condoning the police's refusal to act on the abduction of Deepa's son by the father, despite the High Court awarding custody to the mother.
Meanwhile, Zahid also said Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak would make an announcement on the government's stand on the Private Member's Bill in Parliament from PAS to implement hudud in Kelantan.
"My stand is the government's stand. I will vote according to the government's stand. The PM will make an announcement on the government's stand."
All BN parliamentarians would vote according to the government's stand on the matter, Zahid added.
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