KUALA LUMPUR — A demonstration planned by Umno and PAS to protest the alleged “meddling” of the Finance Ministry in Lembaga Tabung Haji’s affairs is simply an attempt to distract the public from the Muslim pilgrimage fund’s financial irregularities.
Media consultant Terence Fernandez said both Umno and PAS were once again using race and religion to cover up their own alleged wrongdoings.
“Now they can fuel this narrative of the Finance Ministry meddling with Tabung Haji’s affairs even more because the ministry is headed by an ethnic Chinese who is the secretary-general of the DAP. It’s a classic diversion act from the corruption in Tabung Haji and the mismanagement of pilgrims’ funds.
“To counter this, I would suggest a royal commission of inquiry to look into the dealings of Tabung Haji. This will help address the racist and religious narrative that is being utilised to distract the public’s attention,” suggested Fernandez.
The award-winning former journalist also predicted that during the rally planned for January 18, both Malay-based Opposition parties will twist Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s intention of rescuing the fund.
Singapore Institute of International Affairs senior fellow Oh Ei Sun echoed Fernandez’s observation and noted that it was rather curious for a Muslim-based party like PAS to organise the protest with Umno in the first place.
“If anything, the government is trying to salvage both the reputation and financial viability of Tabung Haji by placing it under Bank Negara Malaysia supervision.
“So, it is very curious why such protests are planned, other than to distract the public from the real issues at hand, namely the rescue of Tabung Haji and the search for the real culprits liable for the missing funds,” said Oh.
However, the analyst also acknowledged that PAS could be trying to save the face of its president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang since he backed the then Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) government when the financial irregularities was first exposed in 2014.
Abdul Hadi had slammed PKR’s vice-president Rafizi Ramli for revealing Tabung Haji’s money problems back in 2014.
However, UTM’s Perdana School associate professor Azmi Hassan pointed out that Umno and PAS were very strategic in how they have played up the Tabung Haji issue for the Malay-Muslim majority by setting up the finance minister as a target.
“The term ‘meddling’ used show Umno and PAS’s objection to the Finance Ministry is not only strategic, but very appropriate due to the delicate and sensitive Tabung Haji issue.
“Why I said strategic is that the issue is close to the Malays, and Umno and PAS are trying to show that the Finance Ministry, which is headed by Lim, has ulterior motives for this issue.
“It is strategically correct when both Umno and PAS did not use Azeez as the scapegoat since there is no evidence that Azeez plus the few Tabung Haji executives were involved in corruption,” said Azmi, referring to the fund’s former chairman and Baling MP Datuk Seri Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim.
The academic said the synergy between PAS and Umno was similar to a rally they organised last month to protest against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), a United Nations treaty on racial equality.
Azmi warned the current government to handle the Tabung Haji situation properly or face a repeat of the racial sentiments incited over the ICERD.
Umno and PAS, together with Muslim umbrella group Ummah, organised a massive rally which saw tens of thousands of Malay-Muslims nationwide gather at Dataran Merdeka to thank the government for not ratifying the United Nation’s anti-discrimination agreement.
The government had originally intended to ratify the agreement, but in the face of mounting opposition from Umno, PAS and Malay rights groups, bowed to pressure.
Some of the arguments used by these parties was that the ICERD was not in line with the Federal Constitution’s Article 153 that safeguards and grants special privileges to the Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak.
MALAY MAIL
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