The numbers bandied around of Muslims in Malaysia having allegedly left Islam in the thousands are grossly exaggerated and are "not a cause for alarm", said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdullah Mohd Zin.

Abdullah, who is in charge of the Islamic affairs, said the bulk of those who have opted out of the religion or seeking to do so are recent converts, and the authorities will seek to improve the situation.

"(Apostasy in Malaysia) is not a problem. We have determined (the extent) and I have informed the Prime Minister (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) about it. The situation in Malaysia is under control," he said.

Claims that 'hundreds of thousands' of Muslims had apostatised are mere "rumours" originating from Christian evangelists and 'enemies of Islam', he said.

He added that such rumours were often disseminated through the use of the Internet and short-messaging system (SMS).

"I don't know the exact numbers, but the numbers 100,000 or 125,000 or 250,000 are numbers derived from the Internet. The sources are evangelists, from Western Christian missionaries, and enemies of Islam," Abdullah said further.

Abdullah said this to reporters when met after officiating a program at the Pilgrimage Fund Board (Tabung Haji) in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Angry protest at church

He had been asked about an incident in Ipoh, Perak, where hundreds of Muslims had on Sunday gathered outside the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes to stop the alleged baptism of 600 Muslim students.

The information, contained in a widely-spread SMS citing the Mufti of Perak, turned out to be false as the church was in fact conducting a baptism ceremony for some 110 children of Indian origin.

Abdullah declined to comment on the specific incident at hand, but urged the public to leave it to the police to investigate matters further.

The police yesterday said that they have called in five people to give statement over the SMS and will be calling in several others, including the mufti Harussani Zakaria.

Perak police chief Abdul Aziz Bulat said that Harussani was not a suspect in the case but will be called in as his name was among those mentioned in the SMS.

"The Perak Mufti might shed some light over the matter and assist in police investigation," he said.

Inspector-general of Police Musa Hassan has also said the Internal Security Act may also be used against those who had originated the SMS.

In February, Harussani claimed that 250,000 Muslims (of which 100,000 were Malays) had apostatised themselves, while 100,000 more had submitted applications to do so. He however had not substantiated his claims.