Jamil Khir: Federal govt to continue assisting states on Kafa matters

The Federal Government will continue to assist the states in strengthening Quran and Fardhu Ain (Kafa) classes including in the payment of the imam, takmir teachers and mosque officials. Minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said the federal government wanted to improve cooperation with the state governments in strengthening Kafa. He was speaking after the state Kafa Excellence Appreciation Ceremony which was attended by the Raja Muda of Perlis, Tuanku Syed Faizuddin Putra Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail, here on Saturday. According to Jamil Khir, the government through the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) was looking to provide teaching guides to Kafa teachers so that they could teach in a more systematic and effective manner. At present, there were more than 34,000 Kafa teachers in the country and of these, 465 were in Perlis teaching in 82 premises including schools, mosques and surau, he said. He said Perlis had been given an allocation of RM5 million to pay allowances to these people, and the amount was a slight increase from the 2013 allocation. In a separate development, when asked to comment on the suggestion by Terengganu Menteri Besar, Datuk Ahmad Said that those involved in the clash between T-Team and Johor Darul Takzim (JDT) team should swear under oath, Jamil Khir said: "Let the dispute be resolved according to the rules of the association and any other approaches that may be used. "Our advice could be questioned. So we are leaving it up to their own managements how they want to resolve the matter," he said. Yesterday, Ahmad who was not satisfied with the decision by the Football Association of Malaysia to award the victory of 3-0 to JDT, said he wanted the players and officials who witnessed the incident in the tunnel to swear on the al-Quran.