KUANTAN: The Pahang government offers awareness programmes, including counselling sessions, to rehabilitate those involved in deviant teachings.
State Committee for Islamic Affairs, Rural Development, and Orang Asli Affairs chairman Datuk Seri Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad said appropriate approaches were used to educate individuals or groups involved in misguided beliefs.
"Although we have not yet established formal classes, schools, or special centres to educate those who have gone astray due to deviant teachings, we have implemented certain measures to rehabilitate those found involved with such teachings.
"We offer counseling sessions, awareness and take necessary action to help former followers of deviant groups to return to the right path.
Suitable measures are taken to ensure these individuals do not continue to be involved in deviant teachings and prevent the situation from deteriorating," he said during the question-and-answer session at the Pahang State Legislative Assembly sitting in Wisma Sri Pahang here today.
Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (PAS-Cheka), in a supplementary question, asked whether the state government had established centres to guide those involved in deviant teachings and the total number of deviant teaching groups in the state.
Meanwhile, Syed Ibrahim said Pahang has identified 34 deviant teachings across the state.
During the question and answer session, Tuan Ibrahim had sought updates on the Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) issue and Syed Ibrahim replied that the group has been declared as deviant.
Meanwhile, Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail said the Malay reserve land area in Pahang has increased by more than 100 per cent from 218,326ha before the country achieved independence to 440,074ha last year.
He said the Malay reserve land in Pahang stands at 444,074ha which is about 12.34 percent to the total area of Pahang at 3,597,206.68 ha.
"In 1955, the Malay reserve land in Pahang was 218,326ha which is about six percent of the total size of the state," he said.