KUALA LUMPUR — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has emphasised the need for stricter regulations to monitor the spending of charities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), aiming to prevent misconduct and misappropriation.
He highlighted that this includes oversight of funds belonging to humanitarian groups, welfare organisations, death benefit funds, trusts, and foundations that solicit donations from individuals and private entities.
Anwar also called on the Registrar of Companies to ensure that reports submitted by NGOs are reviewed transparently.
"I am currently reviewing a briefing on this matter. All NGOs must also follow several strict procedures, because misconduct appears to be widespread. People go to mosques, collect donations for Palestine, but the aid does not reach its destination. So how is this monitored?
“I will bring this matter up for discussion so that everyone is held accountable to ensure these funds are not misused," he said during a meet-and-greet with staff of the Institute of Teacher Education (IPG) and Sixth Form Centre students at the IPG Temenggong Ibrahim campus in Johor Bahru today.
Anwar was responding to a question from the honorary treasurer of the institute's Student Representative Committee, who asked whether the committee could apply directly to the Prime Minister's Office for contributions.
In February, an NGO secretary supporting West Asia, particularly Gaza, Palestine, was detained by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) on suspicion of misappropriating around RM4.2 million.
Elaborating further, Anwar stressed that strict oversight is necessary due to previous cases where Islamic NGOs collected funds but diverted them for personal use.
"Their modus operandi includes going to various places, including mosques, to collect donations supposedly meant to help the Palestinian people.
"It's not exactly corruption, because they collect the money legally and have the proper certificates, claiming the money is for Palestine. If they collect RM100 million but only spend RM20 million on Palestinians, they say the remaining RM80 million is for operational costs.
"At first, we thought these were cases of collecting tens of millions of ringgit for Palestinian aid, but the money ended up being spent on development projects and properties in Kuala Lumpur," he added. — April 24, 2026
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