KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 – Deputy President Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan expressed his concern over the government’s proposal to place Tabung Haji (TH) under Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

He said this plan will affect the institution and even its role will be treated as a financial agency.

“It will lose its potential as a trust fund manager with a nobler mission, which is the empowerment of the ummah. TH is a very strategic fund for the interests of the Muslims. Therefore, I call for TH to be made a national trust so that it can be administered by the Board of Trustees.

“Hand over its administration to the Board of Trustees which is made up of the most respected and authoritative individuals, including if necessary international figures,” he said in a FB posting.

Mohamad explained that TH’s problem is no longer due to regulation but the real problem is about the best leadership, trust and competence.

“The future of TH is not in placing it under BNM, its future relies in a leadership that can unearth its potential as the most productive trust fund and empowerment for the ummah.

“I urge Muslims to express their firm stance so that the government returns TH to its strategic role again, in line with the spirit of the establishment of TH itself, God willing,” he explained.

He added that for decades under the Barisan Nasional (BN) government, TH has been successfully strengthened as the best pilgrim management agency in the world and a sophisticated and sustainable Muslim investment institution.

“The BN government has successfully translated the great ideas of the late Royal Professor Ungku Aziz, the founder and founder of Tabung Haji. The diversity of TH’s investments has made it bigger and more powerful than just as a savings management which is free from the element of usury in helping Muslims to perform the hajj.

“Through it, millions of Muslims enjoy the lowest cost of Hajj in the world, not burdensome and with the best Hajj services,” he added.

The Ministry of Finance had previously informed the Cabinet in a statement that it had agreed to improve the management and operation of the TH Board as a whole, which among others, involved the proposed new operating model policy and the revision of amendments to the Tabung Haji Act 1995.

Apart from that, the Cabinet also agreed with the listing of TH as an Islamic financial institution is prescribed under Section 223 of the Islamic Financial Services Act 2013 and regulated by BNM.