PETALING JAYA: PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang claims that the issue of wrongdoing in Tabung Haji (TH) is being blown out of proportion because the institution carries an Islamic brand, thereby giving Malay-Muslims a bad name.
He acknowledged that there may have been misappropriation and wrongdoing in the pilgrims’ fund, but claimed bigger issues in other institutions were not getting the same amount of attention.
The Marang MP claimed that wrongdoing in GLCs and other institutions was taking place at a larger scale but being swept under the carpet.
“The TH offences have become the main topic of discussion because its Islamic brand makes it a target,” he said in a Facebook post.
Hadi also claimed that the wrongdoing of certain individuals was being played up to the point that the contributions of others in developing the institution had been forgotten.
“There are far more people who made TH a success, but the misconduct of a few is being maliciously singled out to tarnish the reputation of Malay-Muslims.”
On July 29, the government declassified the royal commission of inquiry (RCI) report on TH’s management, operations and assets for the period of 2024-2020.
Among the RCI’s main findings was the concealment of the true state of TH’s finances, with losses from troubled investments going unrecorded and the use of “creative accounting” to justify annual profit distributions.
The commission also traced the roots of TH’s financial problems to political interference in board appointments, unsustainable hibah payouts, and the national audit department softening its findings over concerns about depositor confidence.
The declassification of the report led to investigations by the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
A special Dewan Rakyat sitting to debate the RCI report was held last week, although most of Perikatan Nasional’s MPs boycotted the proceedings in protest of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s absence.
Anwar could not attend the sitting as he was recovering from an elective laparoscopic surgical procedure.
