KOTA BAHARU, June 11- Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom (photo) has described the actions of a handful of irresponsible groups who insulted the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on the websites as a new form of apostasy.
Jamil Khir said he considered the latest development as a strategic plan by those groups who were not happy with Islam and that such acts could destroy harmony between the races and could divert the faith of Muslims in the country.
He said these groups tried to create tension so that they could exploit the situation to carry out negative acts against the country, he told reporters after opening the conference of District Religious Administrative Officers at the national level, here today.
He said the government took a serious view of the problem and would take appropriate action against the groups responsible through the monitoring committee set up at the state and federal level to monitor the development.
The press today reported that the Religious Development Department (Jakim) had exposed local and foreign elements who had exploited the social websites to mobilise the second wave to influence Muslims to give up their religion after the first wave of distributing pamphlets at public places had been detected.
Jakim had said that from the monitoring of 1,000 websites from January to May, 4.4 per cent or 44 of the websites were identified as containing doubtful elements and 31 of them had been prosecuted.
In another development, Jamil Khir said the government had agreed to upgrade the service grade of the District Religious Administrative Officers proposed by the Public Services Department to enhance the quality of services on religion in the country.
– BERNAMA
