Kota Kinabalu: The State Legislative Assembly on Thursday unanimously passed a Bill to amend the Wakaf (State of Sabah) Enactment 2018 to include new provisions.
Speaker Datuk Seri Kadzim M. Yahya granted the passing of the Bill after the majority of the members in the House voted in favour of Wakaf (State of Sabah) (Amendment) Enactment 2023.
State Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Dr Mohd Arifin, who is also the State Exco of Islamic Affairs, when tabling the amendment, said the Bill is to add new provisions regarding qualifications as a Chief Waqf Registrar and clearer provisions to enable a ‘mawquf’ (property that is donated for a charitable or religious purposes) is registered as a waqf in accordance with the requirements of other laws.
In Shariah, the term Waqf means a voluntary charitable endowment by a Wakif (a donor/property owner) of any property held from any arrangement of sales and purchases.
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Dr Mohd Arifin said the Bill will not involve any extra financial expenditures.
He said the Bill involves amendments to eight clauses whereby Clause 1 of the Bill as usual provides for the short title and commencement of the Bill, while the rest of the clauses are as follow:-
“Clause 2 of the Bill seeks to amend subsection 8(1) of this Enactment to provide for the qualifications of the Chief Waqf Registrar.
“Clause 3 seeks to replace section 9 of this Enactment to provide for the basic principle of waqf according to Hukum Syarak.
“Clause 4 seeks to introduce new sections 9A, 9B, 9C and 9D to allocate waqif qualifications, types of waqf, application of property as ‘mawquf’ and creation of waqf.
“Clause 5 seeks to amend Section 12 of this Enactment to expand the authority of the Chief Waqf Registrar to issue a waqf registration certificate.
“Clause 6 seeks to insert/introduce a new section 19A to empower the Registrar General of Waqf to issue guidelines or directives.
“Clause 7 aims to amend paragraph 20(1)(a) of the Enactment to include the consent of joint owners (property owners) as one of the conditions of mawquf,” Dr Mohd Arifin said.
The enactment as the Wakaf (State of Sabah) (Amendment) Enactment 2023 was deemed to have come into operation on Feb 14, this year.
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