Malaysia does not impose any restrictions on non-Muslims and is fair to all races, Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic) said today in response to President Barack Obama's advice to the country's leadership.

The US president had said yesterday that Malaysia needed to ensure equal opportunities for the non-Muslim communities here if it wanted to prosper.

"Equal opportunity is given to non-Muslims and the government is fair to all religions," Ahmad Zahid said.

"I do not think that there are any obstacles to practising religion in Malaysia.

"Being biased in favour of one religion is something to be avoided because mutual respect between all religions is a necessity.

"If we respect other religions, the same respect will be shown to the religion which we practise," he told a press conference today.

Ahmad Zahid was speaking to reporters after officiating the 4th Asean Human Trafficking workshop in Kuala Lumpur today.

Obama had also said that non-Muslims in Malaysia faced enemies at this time and many felt oppressed.

"There should be no excuses for discrimination, and you must ensure that this issue is fought against in your daily lives," Obama had said.

"Malaysia will not succeed if non-Muslims are not given equal opportunity, Myanmar will not succeed if the Muslim population continues to be oppressed."

Obama was speaking at a townhall meeting for Asean youths at Dewan Tunku Cancelor in University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Referring to the implementation of hudud law in Kelantan, Ahmad Zahid said this was a serious issue which needed to be studied in detail before being introduced.

Ahmad Zahid said the Federal Constitution needed to be amended and two-thirds support in Parliament was required to realise hudud.

"It is not simple to carry out hudud punishment but we should not reject the concept of hudud," he said.

"We should know that hudud is one of the elements in the many Islamic laws."

Ahmad Zahid said hudud did not just involve the implementation of the law by police and other bodies.

"Although the Kelantan Shariah Penal Code II was passed in 1993, there have been a lot of obstacles preventing the Islamic law from being implemented.

"The Kelantan state government needs to study the implementation and principle of hudud punishment before a further decision is made to raise the issue in Parliament."

Asked about his views on hudud, Ahmad Zahid said his stand on the issue was the same as that of Putrajaya.

"Putrajaya's stand will be announced by the prime minister. BN MPs will also have the same stand as Putrajaya," he added. – April 28, 2014.