The mosque congregation growth exceeded the target of two per cent in 2023 due to improved mosque infrastructure, enhanced programmes and better competency of mosque officers.
Minister of Religious Affairs Yang Berhormat Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Awang Othman said at the 21st Legislative Council session yesterday.
He added, youth participation in religious programmes saw success, with 1,050 youths joining, surpassing the target of 200, thanks to engaging programmes, workshops and activities. The goal for new converts to Islam fell short, with 319 conversions out of the targeted 500, due to challenges and misconceptions surrounding the understanding of Islam.
Meanwhile, the percentage of first-time haj pilgrims rose to 80.3 per cent, surpassing the 80 per cent target with the implementation of the Bruhaj system.
The ministry is committed to strengthening dakwah by implementing continuous understanding of Islam programmes and upgrading the competency of religious speakers through collaboration with local and international dakwah agencies. On social welfare, the percentage of poor and needy asnaf successfully assisted was targeted at 65 per cent but only reached 56.35 per cent due to a lack of awareness among the asnaf to uplift themselves from poverty.
Percentage of decline in divorce cases was targeted at negative five per cent however the cases rises to 0.64 per cent with the main challenge is the difficulties in collecting the divorce data as the data obtained were only from the Syariah Court and the increasing factor is due to social and economic issues. The target percentage of decline in Syariah court cases meanwhile was negative five per cent and achieved at negative 10.57 per cent.
MORA will review data collection by integrating complaint and divorce case data from the Syariah Court and improving coordination between relevant departments for better accuracy. The ministry will optimise internal data, such as complaints and counselling records, to monitor divorce trends and expand marriage awareness programmes to improve interventions.
As for the target percentage of entrepreneurs meeting the Halal compliance requirement, it was targeted at 41 per cent and out of this only 14.43 per cent was achieved due to the challenges of non-compliance with the Halal Certificate and Halal Label Order, 2005 (PSHLH, 2005), which affects the Halal compliance rate although not all of these offences directly affect the halal status of a premise. The ministry will revise key performance indicators to focus on serious halal compliance errors and strengthen monitoring to improve compliance without impacting overall assessments. – Lyna Mohamad
