The growing trend of 'immoral' activities, including the rise of the LGBT population in the country, must be addressed wisely through parents’ involvement in giving their children a strong educational foundation.

Perak Mufti Harussani Zakaria said though laws to safeguard society and curb immorality were already in place, most of them have not been enforced.

As such he said, parents play an important role in educating their children and laying in them a strong religious belief and good moral behaviour.

He said this at a press conference after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Institute of Land and Survey (Instun) and the Perak Mufti Department (JMNPk) here today.

Also present were Perak deputy mufti Zamri Hashim, State Islamic Religious Department director Mohd Yusop Husin and Instun director Norehan Omar.

Harussani said this when asked to comment on the Oktoberfest beer festival and a meet-the-fans session for 'LGBT icons' from Thailand scheduled on Oct 20 at the National Museum, which has been cancelled.

Meanwhile, at a press conference after the opening of a Nusantara Astronomy Seminar at Insun, Islamic Development Department (Jakim) astronomy expert Mohd Zambri Zainuddin said the government intends to build seven observatories to further develop astral research efforts to make Malaysia a global astronomy learning and referral centre.

He said plans were in the pipeline to have the observatories located in Perak, Johor, Pahang, Kelantan, Sabah, Sarawak and in Pulau Bunting, Kedah.

Currently, six large-scale observatory tower stations have been built in Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor and Langkawi, Kedah.

- Bernama