KUALA LUMPUR: Religious authorities will be working closely with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to monitor and block deviant teaching content on digital platforms, says Marhamah Rosli.
The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) said the move involves using provisions under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 to allow content to be removed swiftly.
"The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) is constantly monitoring the trend of deviant teachings, which has been increasingly detected online in line with technological development," she said in response to Datuk Azman Nasrudin (PN-Padang Serai) during the Minister Question Time.
Azman had asked about the steps taken by the government to address the spread of heretical and dubious teachings, which are increasingly prevalent on social media platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.
She said the intensive monitoring covered platforms including Facebook, Threads and WhatsApp to prevent the spread of beliefs that distort the faith and that action was taken only against content declared 'haram' by religious authorities.
Commenting on the growing trend of heretical teachings hidden in motivational content, Marhamah said that the government was also taking proactive steps by enhancing the digital skills of religious enforcement officers to detect and thwart attempts to spread such teachings on social media.
She said that Jakim cadre officers at MCMC had received enhanced training to keep them up to date with digital evolution, including the potential applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
