A total of 253 Orang Asli in Pahang converted to Islam and registered with the Pahang Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MUIP) last year.

State Islamic Propagation and Special Tasks Committee chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad said the statistics also showed that in the first two months this year, 65 Orang Asli in the state had converted to Islam.

“They (Orang Asli) came to us and asked us to teach them about Islam. Once they announced their intention to convert, we would definitely ask for confirmation because we do not want them to have any other intention or agenda to convert to Islam.”

He said this in reply to Mohammad Fakhruddin Mohd Ariff (BN-Bebar) at the state assembly sitting in Kuantan today.

Syed Ibrahim also agreed with Mohammad Fakhruddin’s suggestion that consistent maintenance should be done on religious infrastructure, such as surau, in Orang Asli settlements, besides having a more systematic registration system for new converts to avoid any problems.

- Bernama