KUALA LUMPUR Mainly Muslim Malaysia has made it clear to the United States that it objects to being linked to terrorism, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Thursday.

"I stressed in my meeting with (US Vice President Dick) Cheney that we don't like this profiling," Abdullah told an airport news conference on his return from a visit to Washington.

"We don't like to be branded as a terrorist state or as people with links with terrorists."

Reports that some Malaysians had contact with terror groups abroad should not be used to label the country a terrorist nation because the same situation existed in the US and elsewhere, he said.

"We don't like them (terrorists), we don't condone their presence here."

Price to pay

Malaysia has jailed 62 Islamic extremists in the last year, some of whom are alleged to have links with Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and Abdullah said the government's actions were evidence of its firm stand against terrorists.

He told the official Bernama news agency during his visit to Washington he had discovered that Malaysia and several other Islamic countries were on a list of states considered to be high risk in terms of terrorism.

And Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said earlier this week that the apparent refusal by the US to renew student visas for 150 Malaysians was the price the country had to pay for being Islamic.

But on Wednesday, the US agreed to issue several hundred Malaysians with visas, saying delays were not targeted at any particular race or religion but were designed to ensure that applicants "do not pose a security threat". AFP