In a hard-hitting speech, the leader of a prominent Christian group in Malaysia today hit out at what he saw as evidence of "bullying" of the minority by the country's majority.

Reverend Eu Hong Seng Officiating a Christmas hi-tea in Subang Jaya, National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) head Reverend Eu Hong Seng said majority rights are being given too much airplay.

"Today we are constantly reminded of the rights of the majority guaranteed under Article 153 of the constitution.

"I think we need to talk about the rights of others as well under Article 153. When we talk of the rights of (just) one group, if I may suggest, that is 'bullying'," he said.

anwar ibrahim at christmas tea party Among the guests at today's festive event at the Subang Jaya Full Gospel Tabernacle was PKR de-facto leader Anwar Ibrahim ( right ).

The reverend, who is also Christian Federation of Malaysia vice chairperson, added that the rights of the majority also appear to be "shifting" that there is confusion over what is actually guaranteed.

"Personally, I am not too sure what rights (the majority) are talking about.

"I have no problem with the rights of the Malays and the sultans in the constitution, but I think what irks many of us are the shifting rights... rights as in 1990, year 2000 or the rights, after everything has been taken away, or rights as in the year when we first celebrated Merdeka," he said.

Speaking at the tail end of turbulent year for Christians in Malaysia, Eu quipped that the multiracial event at the compounds of the Full Gospel Tabernacle church is testament that "we can come together to respect each other beliefs... without fear of being raided".

Racism a 'malignant plight'

All the same, he said, racism remains a "malignant plight" of Malaysia with groups "promoting a racist cum religiously biased agenda to the detriment" of the nation.

He said that diversity, which was once Malaysia's strength is now a subject of malcontent in what appears to be a "self-created" problem.

He added that the practice of democracy means that elected representatives must "serve the people" and not "threaten the people and get away with it" as they do now.

"This should not be so and we the people of the book are not afraid to say so.

"We, the church, believe that in spite of fear-mongering, we can have peace and no one need to be fearful in this nation," he said.

The event, attended by politicians from both sides of the divide also included a reading from a chapter of the Malay-language Bible, al-Kitab.

Al-Kitab had been the subject of controversy earlier this year, with the government finally conceding that it can be printed locally as long as the words 'For Christians only' are stamped on the front page.

Last year, the annual hi-tea was attended by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

His aide had then requested the removal of any crucifix from the  venue of the event - a move which did not sit well with the Christian community.

'Don't give face to extremists'

Najib, who is on leave today, was represented by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Koh Tsu Koon.

christmas tea party koh tsu koon teresa kok Reverend Eu Hong Seng In his speech, Koh said the extreme voices in Malaysia should not be given "face or space".

"Good deeds of those who do good work...go unnoticed and we get upset over voices who utter words of extremity.

"We should repeat voices of reason and compassion," he said.

Asked later if he had meant vocal Malay-rights group Perkasa, Koh said his statement was in  "general" against all extreme voices.

" Siapa makan cabai dia akan terasa pedasnya . (The person who eats the chilli will feel the heat)

"Ignore them and don't engage in a war of words with them as this is what they want.”

He added that the nation is like a married couple learning to understand each other, and that we should further engage each other to settle our misunderstandings.