Macron had earlier this month unveiled a plan to defend France’s secular values against a trend of “Islamist separatism”, and described Islam as a religion “in crisis”. His comments were in response to the beheading of a teacher outside his school after he had shown cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a class on free speech.

In a statement, the embassy said that France had always protected the right to freedom of religion and that the country does not favour or stigmatise any religion.

“The president of the republic did not target the Muslim community in France at all but only the ideology of radical Islamism that should be isolated and fought. This ideology, built on indoctrination and the creation of a counter-society, thinks it is above the laws of the state,” it read.

It said Macron had made a clear distinction between the militant, separatist minority and the rest of the French Muslim community.

“While (Macron) did not express himself as to the content of caricatures, he defended the right to caricature under the laws of the French Republic.”

The embassy added that they had been in contact with local authorities who assured them that calls for the boycotting of French products would fall on deaf ears in Malaysia.

Previously, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and PAS information chief Kamaruzaman Mohamad had hit out at Macron’s statement, accusing him of “ignorance”.