Fahmi says government hopes to hold a special Dewan Rakyat sitting soon to debate the declassified TH RCI report.
SEREMBAN: The government hopes to hold a special Dewan Rakyat sitting soon to debate the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH), as it is an important issue that requires scrutiny by Members of Parliament.
Communications Minister Datuk Seri Fahmi Fadzil said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had asked Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to liaise with Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul to determine the date for the special sitting.
“The third meeting of this year’s parliamentary session will begin in early October. However, the Prime Minister hopes that we can hold it within a not-too-distant timeframe because this is a very important matter that needs to be examined and debated by Members of Parliament,” he said.
He said this when commenting on the Cabinet’s decision today to declassify the RCI report on TH from its status under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972 and make it public.
Elaborating, Fahmi said today’s Cabinet meeting was briefed by TH chairman and RCI member Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Hussain on the findings of the inquiry. He said it took some time for the report to be released as TH management had to focus on efforts to restore the agency’s financial position and implement the recommendations put forward.
“He (Rashid) also explained why it took some time before Tabung Haji’s management was ready and agreed for the report to finally be disclosed. Among other reasons was that over the past two or three years, when he took over, efforts had been made to improve, adopt and implement the recommendations.
“Of the 25 recommendations contained in the RCI, 75 per cent have been successfully implemented by the current management. These recovery efforts were also reflected in the announcement of a 3.50 per cent profit distribution (dividend) rate for last year,” he said.
According to Fahmi, following the declassification decision, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM), as the secretariat, would publish and disclose the report to the public today.
Earlier, Fahmi visited the Malaysian National News Agency’s (Bernama) Negeri Sembilan Bureau, which serves as the agency’s operations room for coverage of the 16th Negeri Sembilan State Election.
