The Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia has urged the government to protest to Denmark over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad which have angered Muslims around the world.

The association, which claims 100,000 members, also called on Copenhagen to apologise over the 12 cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September.

"As a Muslim country we do find this kind of thing is insulting our feelings," said Noor Nirwandy Noordin, project coordinator from the group which spearheaded a high-profile boycott of Thai goods over the treatment of its Muslim minority.

"We want the Malaysian government, our prime minister, to send a protest to Denmark," he told AFP .

"Denmark has to send through their embassy a formal apology letter to the Muslim community in Malaysia ... it is necessary for them to apologise to every Muslim country in the world."

Diplomatic crisis

Muslim anger over the images depicting the Prophet Mohammad has boiled over into a diplomatic crisis threatening Danish trade relations with the Muslim world.

The caricatures include a portrayal of the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a time bomb, and were reprinted in a Norwegian magazine in January.

Muslims are increasingly frustrated over the links being drawn between Islam and militant activity, and Noor Nirwandy said the association had been inundated with members' calls for Scandinavian products to be boycotted.

"This issue is very, very sensitive, and it has to be handled with care because we don't want Islam to be referred to as a terrorist religion," he said. An apology will "send a message or signal to other countries to respect other religions," he said.

Noor Nirwandy said the Danish government had to take action to counter negative images of the country, and to soothe Muslim outrage or face consequences.

"If they don't deal with this accordingly, they may face a boycott of their products in every Arabic and Muslim country," he said.

"It has to assure us this sort of thing happen not happen again in the future."