Govt unveils RM500mil Islamic complex to win over Muslim electorate

Amid a fast-unravelling economy and accusations it was trying to bribe Muslim voters, the Najib administraion announced that a RM500 million Islamic administrative complex will be built in Putrajaya.

The complex will house 13 Islamic-related government agencies under one roof for the purpose of ensuring efficient service and programme implementation.

While acknowledging the principle of the plan had merit, critics worried whether the funds-strapped government had sufficient money to push the project through completion and warned against any private tender deals to crony firms with weak or little track record.

"We hope this will not turn out to be another Istana Negara fiasco or PKFZ where the cost overruns are so unbelievable. Also, we are quite cautious because there is growing talk of snap elections and hopefully, this will not be election bait," a senior economist a large bank told Malaysia Chronicle.

Election bait

The new Palace for the King doubled in cost to RM800 million from the RM400 million announced by the BN government in 2006.

Although scheduled to be completed in 2009, construction is still underway. Many experts have predicted the final cost will be closer to RM2 billion when the Palace complex is finally ready in February 2012.

As for the proposed islamic complex, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Jamil Khir Baharom said currently the religious agencies were scattered within Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, making it difficult for them to carry out joint activities.

"Certain sectors, divisions and cells will remain but some will move here, especially top management," Bernamareported him as saying after handing over a special contribution of RM1 million to 26 Islamic non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Economy unravelling faster than expected

Jamil Khir said the project had been approved by the Cabinet, with the complex consisting of four blocks to be constructed using an allocation from Tabung Haji.

A piece of land near Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin Mosque in Precinct 3, here, was bought for this purpose and construction would begin this year, he added.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's economy grew by 4.6 percent in the first quarter, the central bank said, slower than expected due to a tepid performance by the manufacturing sector.

The result for the March quarter was sharply lower than the same period a year ago when the economy posted stellar growth of 10.1 per cent, and was slightly lower than the fourth quarter 2010 when growth reached 4.8 percent.

"The Q1 results show the economy is slipping faster than expected, certainly not the time to be unveiling such big-ticket items. We hope Prime Minister Najib Razak won't go overboard with spending promises to win the hearts of his targeted electorate," the economist said.

- Malaysia Chronicle