A religious sect in Malaysia's Muslim heartland Terengganu, which has been denounced as "deviant" and un-Islamic, came under pressure today to demolish icons including a giant teapot after a 30-day order expired over the weekend.

Local authorities said the religious cult in Terenganu would be given more time to pull down the outlandish structures but did not rule out the use of force to carry out the order.

"We will soon summon the land owner to give reasons why they have not demolished the illegal structures as ordered," Mohamad Iskandar, a local land department administrator, told AFP .

Asked if the structures would be forcibly removed if the group continues to defy the authorities, he said: "We will give them time. It has not come to that level yet."

Last month the land office ordered the community to destroy structures it had built over the years - including the teapot, which stands several metres high, a giant vase and an umbrella-like tower - by May 28, saying they breached national regulations.

Peace and unity

The remote commune is led by a 65-year-old illiterate Malay man, Ariffin Mohammad, better known as Ayah Pin, who claims he is God. The village is popular among Muslims, Chinese and Indians and foreign tourists who visit to discuss various issues with Ayah Pin on weekends.

The sect has had run-ins with the authorities in the past, with four members being jailed for two years in 1998 for attempting to renounce Islam.

"We will not comply with the order," a spokesman for the Ayah Pin cult, Rosli Abdul Samad, 37, told AFP last week. "We have done no wrong. We promote peace and unity for all races. We are not militants."

The structures are designed to promote univeral unity among all religions, he said, accusing local Islamic leaders of attempting to contain the teachings of Ayah Pin by ordering their destruction.

But Iskandar denied local authorities were conspiring against the group.

"We have no ill feelings. But they must obey the law," he said.

About 200 people live in 30 wooden houses in the village, 20 minutes from the oil-rich town of Jerteh.

Rosli said the group does not have any religious scriptures of its own and members are free to follow any religion they want.

The issue of religion in predominantly Muslim Malaysia is sensitive, especially when Muslims renounce Islam, and the government is always on the lookout for what it calls deviant sects.