Recently, the Sultan of Selangor reportedly expressed disappointment over the mismanagement of Tabung Haji, stressing that funds entrusted for religious purposes must be managed with accountability and responsibility.
Mismanagement?
Was HRH Sultan of Selangor properly advised or was he misinformed?
Statements from UMNO leaders regarding the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report do not claim that there was no mismanagement, but rather management/governance failures.
2 of the leaders from UMNO reportedly said the declassified RCI report highlights administrative and governance weaknesses arguing that financial challenges stemmed from policy decisions, high hibah (dividends) payouts, and structural management issues rather than personal enrichment or direct criminal misappropriation or theft of funds by political leaders.
Under the Federal Constitution, the Malay Rulers serve as the ultimate custodians of Islamic institutions in Malaysia.
As his HRH emphasized, Tabung Haji is a sacred trust carrying the hopes, dreams, and hard-earned savings of ordinary Muslims trying to fulfill their religious pilgrimage obligations.
His reminder focused on demanding institutional accountability, protecting the sanctity of Muslim wealth, and urging politicians to stop using the issue for counterproductive partisan spin.
When political parties attempt to spin independent audit or RCI findings to shield themselves from blame, it distracts from the actual lessons that need to be learned.
Paying out dividends (hibah) while in a deficit—are serious violations of institutional mandates, not minor oversights.
Transparency requires admitting that these decisions, regardless of intent, endangered the fund's sustainability.
A non-partisan, transparent acceptance of the RCI report would allow Tabung Haji to focus entirely on implementing the commission's recommendations, strengthening regulatory oversight, and ensuring that political or administrative pressures never again compromise the fund's financial integrity.
HRH Sultan of Selangor has already spoken.
So has the YDP Agong who ordered that the investigation into the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) be pursued "hingga ke lubang cacing" (to the ends of the earth).
To ensure that the public is not confused, would UMNO care to seek an audience with HRH Sultan of Selangor to have better clarity and truly understand what he has expressed publicly?
That what was revealed in the RCI report was not mismanagement but management/governance failures.
The public is awaiting.
FLK (leekhean.foo@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact creator@newswav.com.
