An investigation by two journalists into reports about illegal conversion of Malaysian Muslims is putting the government and the Catholics on collision course.

"The actions of the two reporters may have hurt the feelings of the people but I was satisfied that they did not intend to offend anyone," Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said in a statement cited by Agence France Presse (AFP) Friday, March 5.

"It was an act of sheer ignorance."

The journalists, working for the monthly Malay-language Al-Islam magazine, had joined a Roman Catholic church service to investigate claims Muslims were illegally being converted.

They received the communion wafers, which are offered only to baptized Catholics, put them in their mouths and then spat them out.

The action angered Catholics who believe the wafer is transformed into the body of Christ during the celebration of Mass.

“In view of the circumstances at that particular time and in the interest of justice, peace and harmony, I decided not to press any charges against them," said Patail.

This is the latest in a series of incidents raising religious tensions in the Muslim-majority country.

The country was hit with a spate of attacks against churches and mosques in January, triggered by a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" for God by non-Muslims.

About nine percent of Malaysia's 28 million population are Christians, including 850,000 Catholics.