Pahang has no plans to equip govt enforcement officers with firearm

The state government does not plan to equip firearms to government agencies' enforcement officers in the state or place them at specific areas to protect them from security threats.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said the use of fire arms required skills and those handling such weapons must undergo adequate training before being permitted to own them.

"It is difficult to equip all enforcement (personnel) with firearms and to place them in one residential area is also not practical.

"At present we advise officers under the enforcement agencies to be careful when carrying out their duties," he said when replying to Mohamed Arifin Ismail (BN-Chenor) at the Pahang state legislative assembly in Wisma Sri Pahang here today.

He said the state government had not expected that religious enforcement officers would also face security threats such as the murder case, involving Pahang Islamic Religious Department (JAIP) Enforcement Division Chief Ahmad Raffli Abdul Malik last November.

The Pahang state legislative assembly was also told that 16.22 per cent of the 15,000 marriages that were registered in the state last year ended in divorce.

State Dakwah Islamiah and Special Functions Committee Chairman Datuk Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad said the divorces involved marrriages that took place within and outside the country.

"From the total cases, 299 involved fasakh, 218 for taklik and 1,916 at the divorce application stage in the syariah court, with 85 per cent already settled, " he said when replying to Syed Hamid Syed Mohamed (PAS-Kuala Semantan).

He said since 2009 until last year, 814 spouse nafkah claims and 1,114 child nafkah claims were brought up in the syariah court statewide, with 81 per cent or 1,562 cases already settled.

"The remaining cases that have yet to be settled in court or failed to be finalised are due to problems such as defendants gone missing, sent to Pusat Serenti or prison," he said.