Salleh Said Keruak, a former communications minister, said that in fact, Islam teaches that there is no compulsion in religion.

However, Salleh said that there were many radicals who use Islam as a camouflage for their extremist or terrorist activities, noting that terror group, Islamic State has 40,000 fighters and 60,000 supporters.

“But then there are more than two billion Muslims in 232 countries all over the world. How can a mere 100,000 out of more than two billion be said to represent Islam, or are regarded as the voice of Islam?” he wrote in a a personal blog posting.

Salleh was responding to an announcement by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan that Pakistan, Malaysia and Turkey are to start an English-language news channel to confront the challenges posed by Islamophobia.

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had lamented, in an address to the United Nations General Assembly, that Muslims were accused of terrorism even if they did nothing.

He said the creation of Israel was partly the cause of enmity towards Muslims and Islam.