PUTRAJAYA, May 15 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak warned Malaysia’s youth today to hold fast to moderation and steer clear of liberal and pluralistic beliefs that would destroy the country.

“The youth have to stay away from extreme beliefs which can bring harm to the country and (themselves).

“They also need to avoid being trapped in the liberal or pluralism belief.

“The best approach is to hold on to moderation,” he said in Malay during his speech before presenting awards in conjunction with National Youth Day 2014 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here.

Today, Najib urged the country’s youth to instead adopt moderation as among key values in their lives, which also included lifelong learning, entrepreneurship, and volunteering.

The broadside against liberalism was the second in recent days by Najib, who yesterday said Islam and its followers are being tested by new threats under the guise of humanism, secularism, liberalism and human rights.

In popular culture, liberalism is understood to be a political philosophy that champions civil liberties and equality, while religious pluralism is a view that promotes the co-existence of diverse religions.

But the two terms have been co-opted by Muslim groups here to denote what they allege to be attacks against Islam.

They contend that liberalism is a guise to foist lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) lifestyles on Malaysians while pluralism is a front to encourage Muslim apostasy.

Rights advocacy groups are regularly in the crosshairs of Islamic groups here as a result.