KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — A Cabinet minister has urged Malaysians today against allowing the country’s to be torn apart by fringe groups like the so-called Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy’s (Centhra).

According to Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, groups like Centhra that recently mooted "anti-evangelicalism laws”, are fanning hatred and distrust across the nation for their own interests.

"We should continue to build and develop Malaysia into a modern society, blessed with our own unique cultures and diversity to further strengthen our success story.

"We should never allow fringe groups to hijack our national agenda by fanning hatred and distrust for their own selfish interests,” the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said in a statement.

Kurup also slammed Centhra for its "repulsive” act, by proposing such a "twisted” idea during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"I condemn Centhra for the idea. Ideas and advocacy groups like these are the ones that hasten the tearing up of our social fabric that has held this diverse country together since Independence,” he said.

He also accused the group of going against the principles of wasatiyyah, or moderation that is espoused by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Umno-owned daily Utusan Malaysia had published on Thursday an essay by Centhra chief executive Azril Mohd Amin, which called for "anti-evangelicalism laws” outlawing Christian evangelism in the country.

Azril claimed "evangelicalism”, which he described as having "exhibited new religious tendencies towards positivism, unfettered freedom and a tendency to uncontrolled openness”, was seriously threatening Malaysia’s religious harmony.

Evangelism in the Christian context is an activity that broadly refers to spreading its gospel.

Evangelicalism, on the other hand, is a movement born from the Protestant school with a specific core belief that is said to be different from mainstream Protestanism; one of them being the belief in "personal conversion”.

It has been alleged that evangelical churches are the most active and purportedly running a well-financed proselytisation campaign worldwide.