(AFP) - Cuban President Fidel Castro went sightseeing Saturday on the second day of his visit to Malaysia, touring the world's tallest buildings and declaring he feels "closer to heaven."

Castro waxed enthusiastic about his host Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and some of the veteran leader's mega-projects.

"He's an excellent leader," the Cuban leader told reporters after touring the 452m Petronas Twin Towers.

"He is very friendly and he has great ideas. These twin towers and the new city Putrajaya were conceived by him. I think that's a marvel, the new city of Putrajaya."

As for the twin towers, he said, "I was closer to heaven here."

Asked if Malaysia has any lesson for Cuba, Castro said: "Yes, a very important lesson and it is that when you do things right, you get as far as you intend to.

"I take another lesson with me. There are two rebels in the world, one is Dr Mahathir and the other is me."

Mahathir sees Malaysia as a leader of the developing world. Like Castro, he frequently criticises unregulated globalisation as a Western plot to recolonise the developing world.

In a lecture Friday on the first day of his visit Castro described globalisation as a "new and more sophisticated form of plundering" following the colonial era.

Earlier in his tour Castro visited Algeria and Iran which, like Malaysia, are members of the Group of 77 developing nations. He and Mahathir exchanged ideas on promoting the views of the developing world.

Compliments for Powell

Castro also jibed at the United States but had compliments for Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Asked about the US losing its seats on the UN Human Rights Commission and the International Narcotics Control Board, he replied sarcastically:

"If anyone gets upset, I find it logical because it is true that the world has been very unfair to the United States."

Asked about Powell's remarks last month that Castro had done some good things for his people, the Cuban leader responded: "He has been the only one to dare say that Cuba has done something good in education and health.

"I think that Colin Powell is a personality himself. I do not think that he is a warmonger like some other people there. He has his own character and he has his own authority.

"Of course he is part of the government now and of course he must pursue the same line as his government."

Powell's remarks to a congressional committee followed questions from Representative Jose Serrano, who opposes the US embargo on Cuba.

More rational

The secretary of state acknowledged that Castro had done "good things" for Cubans - particularly in education and health care - since coming to power in 1959.

But Powell added that "for most of those 42 years ... he was fomenting revolution, fomenting insurgencies (and) he was trying to impose a system that was not a system of freedom."

Asked Saturday whether US and European criticism of Cuba's human rights record is justified, Castro responded: "We are very proud of being criticised by them because we have never used teargas against the people nor do we beat the people."

The 74-year-old communist leader was also quizzed about his remarks Friday that he is a "great admirer of religions and religious beliefs."

Was he becoming a believer now he was growing older?

"No. Actually it means that I have become more rational, that I have been able to know better about all human beings," he said.

"It is easier for me to understand it now that I see all the positives of people's beliefs, all the comfort they take in their religion."

Castro was to have a private dinner with Mahathir Saturday. He leaves Sunday morning and is due to stop over in Qatar on his way home.