SHAME ON YOU - JAMIL KHIR AND CHE MAT

What can I say of this two people; Minister in PM’s Department in Charge of Islamic Affairs Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and Director Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council Datu Che Mat Che Ali who was alleged to have misappropriated zakat fund amounting to RM63,650 to settle their personal legal fee, being respondents in Anwar Ibrahim’s qazaf application. The alleged abuse of zakat fund by the two was recorded in the Auditor General report for 2010.

Any Muslim would know that to abuse the zakat fund (even for taking a single sen), more so for a personal reason is a sin, and they being people learned in religion should know the consequences. Do they not know that they will have to answer their sins to Allah SWT in the hereafter? Or are they thinking that being a government paid religious official, they will be accorded a special preference in hell? I think it would have been less grievous a sin if they had borrowed money from someone to settle their legal fee. Are the two not rich enough to pay up? I think that amount is a paltry sum for Jamil Khir in particular who is said to have built himself a palatial home.

I think right minded citizens of this country ought to be thankful to former KL CID Chief Datuk Mat Zain Hamzah for highlighting this abuse and for being persistent in criticizing and commenting all that is wrong about this country, particularly with regards to the abuse of power by the powers that be, corruption and the misappropriation of justice. What baffles me is that despite the many critical comments that Datuk Mat Zain had written and published, not one single person within the government dare to act against him. Not the AG, not the IGP and not a single Minister. I would ask – why is this so? And the only logical answer that I can think of is that what all has been revealed by Datuk Mat Zain is true and cannot be challenged. Indeed, Datuk Mat Zain is a lone crusader for good against evil.

Being a colleague of Jamil Khir while I was in the military service, I am ashamed at what he did, if the allegation is proven to be true. I simply cannot accept a person like him with strong religious credentials and a ‘pendakwah’ to have done the unthinkable; an act that is sacrileges. He not only shamed the Armed Forces from where he was trained and served, but more importantly to desecrate the office that he now holds i.e. Minister in the PM Department in charge of Islamic religious affairs.

I do not know whether the PM or anyone within the government will act against the two for abuse and misappropriation of zakat fund. Or will they be given a tap on the back and be let off with a warning? I do not think the two will be ask to vacate their position or for them to voluntarily discharge themselves from their post – that’s the last think that could happen and there are several examples to cite; unlike the Japanese and Korean people where shame is unacceptable to them. To such people, it is more honourable to take their own life than to face shame. And having paid back the money does not absolve them of their sin.

Finally a food for thought from Sheikh Imran Hosein when he wrote, quote “There is a peculiar definition about ‘ulamak’ that all must know: Establishment Ulamak equals Islamic scholars that the government provides them with comfortable living in the secularized Muslim world”, unquote.

Do you not think that the quotation fits the two ‘ulamak’ that I have mentioned above?


CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION