Malacca exco denies mosque committees forced to give money to his special officer

CORONAVIRUS | Malacca state exco Mohd Rafiq Naizamohideen has rubbished an allegation that he forced mosque committees in his state constituency of Paya Rumput to give money to his special officer.

In a posting uploaded to his Facebook account this afternoon, the Paya Rumput assemblyperson said that the allegation, spread by certain quarters via an online post, is malicious and illogical defamation against him, among others.

The Islamic Religious Council (MAIM) member challenged these quarters to quit hiding behind social media accounts and instead report the allegation to the MACC.

The Bersatu politician explained that what really happened was that the allegation emerged following many mosques in his state constituency being reluctant to use money within their finances to help the people during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said that during a meeting with all Paya Rumput mosque chairpersons or their representatives at his office at Seri Negeri, most mosques reported finances of almost reaching RM30,000 and that there was a mosque that reported RM85,000 and another reported over RM100,000.

Rafiq said that in line with the encouragement from the Mufti’s office and MAIM, the meeting discussed the mosques’ involvement in helping their respective “kariah” (worshippers) to face Covid-19 as aid given by the state legislature committee and coordination (Jawatankuasa dan Penyelarasan Dewan Undangan Negeri or JAPERUN) and the state government was not enough.

He said during the meeting, it was decided that aid in the form of food packs valued at RM32.50 per pack (with actual market price of between RM35 and RM38) would be coordinated by his officer with Mydin Hypermarket.

Rafiq noted that the mosques were given leeway to buy the items by themselves if they could get the items at the same cheap price as Mydin Hypermarket’s, and that the amount of aid to be given by the mosques were based on their respective financial standing and as agreed by those who attended the meeting.

“Even though it was discussed, there were some mosque committees (AJK) who were not satisfied and contacted me and refused to give the contribution as agreed.

“They gave excuses that not many are eligible to receive aid even though for me there are over 5,000 applicants listed, comprised of the poor and of B40 (Bottom 40). After that, the defamatory poster went viral,” he said.

He said there were mosques in the Paya Rumput constituency with collected funds of nearly RM90,000 who contacted him to say that they only wished to spend and contribute 100 packs of food with an overall cost of RM3,250.

“The stingy attitude of certain mosque committees is very disappointing and led to stories such as certain segments of Muslims forced to go to church to get a contribution.

“Enough with defaming me. I am sincere in servicing and helping the people face Covid-19 for Allah. I do not even get a cent of profit from this effort.

“I surrender to Allah and I hope that those who defame me would receive guidance from Allah,” he said. - Mkini