KUALA LUMPUR, April 28 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today that the government has been fair to Malaysians of all religions, but refused to comment on the continuation of the government’s pro-Bumiputera policies.

Zahid, also Umno vice-president, said suggestions that non-Muslims are marginalised are a matter of perception.

“We have given equal chances to non-Muslims,” Zahid told reporters after an event.

Yesterday, during his first ever visit to the country, US president Barack Obama said Malaysia cannot flourish if non-Muslims are sidelined.

Obama also said that prejudices against people from different religions and races have no place in the modern world and must be removed.

“I don’t think there are obstacles to practising other religious beliefs,” Zahid said today

He refused to be pressed on how non-Muslims can have equal opportunities given the government’s affirmative action policies for the country’s Bumiputera majority.

“I don’t want to respond to your question,” he said.

Malaysia, which has a Malay-Muslim majority, has been hit with a series of controversies affecting non-Muslims, including a government ban against Christians from referring to God as “Allah”, as well as a recent directive by religious authorities in Pahang prohibiting hotels from placing non-Islamic religious materials in rooms.