He said it was not easy to curb the spread of the ideology as they did not practice it openly.

“Actually it is not easy to deal with deviant teachings, because sometimes they do it in secrecy. I believe in terms of the enactment it is good enough, the most important thing is to strengthen it in terms of enforcement.

“Under the legislation, we cannot take action based on suspicion. If there is evidence, only then can we take action,” he told reporters after opening the Tambun Umno division delegates meeting here yesterday.

He was commenting on the proposal by the Kedah Mufti Department on Wednesday that the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) should be enhanced to curb the spread of Shi’ism in the country.

Asyraf said enactments and laws pertaining to religion and its enforcement fall under the jurisdiction of state governments, while the Federal government only coordinated in terms of the language used in the enactments.

“In the context of Shi’ism, there is consensus among all the states, so let the states (set the enactments), but they should play a more proactive role in matters related to faith.

“In the context of Sosma and so on, if there is proof that (the acts) could harm the country, anyone will have action taken against them by the government,” he said.

In the meantime, Asyraf said in addition to enforcement personnel, the public should also cooperate and play a role to curb the spread of Shi’ism in the country.

“People should always be proactive and work with the authorities to help provide information, if they are aware of deviation (of religion) groups in their areas,” he said.