Tabung Haji Act amendments in final stages before parliamentary tabling, says TH CEO

BANGI, Sept 3 — The process of amending the Tabung Haji Act 1995 (Act 535) has now reached 90 per cent at the internal level of the Tabung Haji Board (TH) and is expected to be brought to the Cabinet after the technical process and engagement with relevant parties are finalised.

TH chief executive officer Mustakim Mohamad said the amendment was among the remaining main actions following the 25 recommendations submitted by the TH Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI).

“One of the most important is the amendment to Act 535. This is still in our (action), I can tell you that we are more than 90 per cent in action.

“But there needs to be an end for us to bring to the Cabinet, a policy change that we need to bring to the Cabinet and to Parliament later,” he said at the Dialog Ummah: Reality and Future of TH programme here today.

Mustakim said that currently, 19 out of 25 recommendations of the TH RCI, which is about 76 per cent, have been completed while the remaining six are still in action at all levels.

The remaining six actions include amendments to Act 535; limiting the scope of Bank Negara Malaysia’s supervision of TH and strengthening the disciplinary process.

Meanwhile, TH chairman Tan Sri Rashid Hussain said his party has been working on the amendment intensively for the past year, including holding engagement sessions with relevant regulatory bodies.

Asked about the timeframe for the amendment to be tabled, he said the process of amending the Act need to go through several stages including the consideration of ministers, the Cabinet and the Attorney General’s Department before being brought to Parliament.

“It will have to go through the process with the AG’s Office for the final opinion. That’s the process, and I will go through that process,” he said in a separate press conference.

Previously, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in a Facebook post that the government would implement amendments to Act 535 to ensure that the trust of Muslims continues to be preserved.

Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said the amendments were among the steps taken by the MADANI Government in strengthening governance and ensuring that every institutional weakness is firmly corrected.

Following that, TH welcomed the government’s move to amend the Tabung Haji Act 1995 in line with the RCI’s recommendations to strengthen governance in ensuring that the trust entrusted to it continues to be preserved.

TH announced that as an Islamic financial institution that manages the savings of Muslims to perform the hajj, TH is committed to continuing to strengthen governance, transparency and integrity in order to safeguard the interests of depositors and the sustainability of the institution. — Bernama