Malaysia will fight Islamic extremism through "aggressive efforts" to explain the religion's peaceful message, the king today told the first session of parliament since the government won a landslide victory in March elections.

Warning that extremism led to terrorism, King Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin said "narrow interpretations and extremist practises are the main reasons causing Muslims to become weak and marginalised from the wave of development".

Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional government, which thrashed the fundamentalist Islamic Party at the polls in this multiracial nation, had proved that Islam was "a peaceloving religion" and that Muslims and non-Muslims could live side by side in peace.

"At a time when the Muslim world is slammed by the West and Islam is equated with terrorism," Malaysia had also shown that "democracy and development are not contrary to Islamic values", he said.

"My government will continue aggressive efforts to explain the true Islamic teaching to eradicate misunderstanding and misinterpretation which can cause terrorism and extremist acts, causing Muslims to become divided and therfore endangering national unity," the king said.

Washington's policies slammed

Without naming the United States, he also took a swipe at Washington's foreign policies, saying security and peace could be threatened by both "global terrorism and a tendency for superpowers to take action without respecting international law."

The king has little real political power in this rapidly-developing Southeast Asian nation, but his speech reflected the strong opposition by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's government to the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Malaysia has had no terror attacks on its own soil, but has detained some 80 alleged militants suspected of membership in regional terrorist groups such as the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombing in Indonesia which killed more than 200 people. - AFP