Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said today that a key challenge that he would face in promoting peace is how to ensure that extremism and radicalism do not take root in Malaysia.

He said this was because religion has increasingly become the most important imperative for people to do things, both good and bad.

"By extension, religious teachings can be abused to incite people into violence and conflict," he said at the closing of the Kuala Lumpur World Peace Conference this afternoon.