Obama urges Malaysia to give civil society bodies more freedom

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) US President Barack Obama urged the Malaysian government Sunday to give civil society organizations enough space of freedom because "democracy does not only mean elections." Obama, in an address at the University of Malaya, underlined importance of tolerance and accepting the others regardless of their ethnic or religious backgrounds. He said he discussed with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak human rights, civil liberties and freedom of expression. Obama said non-Muslim minority in Malaysia should be equal to the Muslim majority if the Asian people wanted to prosper and succeed. Non-Muslims in Malaysia, he added, were subjected to hostile action and some of them believed they were oppressed. Therefore, he said, Malaysia would not succeed if it fails to provide equal opportunities for them. Obama, meanwhile, underlined importance of protecting rights of the Muslim minorities in Myanmar. Razak said earlier that Malaysia, a modern and progressive Muslim nation home to a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society, had long known the benefit of cooperation across borders and recognised the power of shared prosperity. He said his country would carry out wide-ranging reforms including civil liberties. The US President is on an Asian tour that had taken him to Japan and South Korea. He will fly to the Philippines tomorrow.