Zakat and Politics Reported by
Singapore Straits Times
The opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia government in Terengganu has come under new attack as fresh allegations emerged that it has been spending about RM3 million (S$1.4 million) of the religious tithes fund annually on 300 of its political campaigners instead of the poor and the needy.
The money for religious tithes or zakat was collected from Muslims in Terengganu as part of their religious obligations by the Terengganu Religious and Malay Customs Council (Maidam), which disbursed it subsequently to the campaigners, Berita Harian Malaysia reported.
This revelation came on the heels of another scandal over the use of zakat money when Terengganu Umno, which is an opposition party in the state, accused two state ministers and a former PAS executive council member of using the funds to finance their children's studies abroad.
The PAS politicians, who admitted that their children had taken the money, returned the grants after the scandal broke out.
But a spokesman for Maidam, Datuk Engku Mohamad Abdul Rahman, admitted that zakat money was indeed used to pay for the allowances of missionaries. He was uncertain whether the missionaries, working as religious teachers, were also PAS cadres
Zakat and Politics Reported by
Singapore Straits Times
The opposition Parti Islam SeMalaysia government in Terengganu has come under new attack as fresh allegations emerged that it has been spending about RM3 million (S$1.4 million) of the religious tithes fund annually on 300 of its political campaigners instead of the poor and the needy.
The money for religious tithes or zakat was collected from Muslims in Terengganu as part of their religious obligations by the Terengganu Religious and Malay Customs Council (Maidam), which disbursed it subsequently to the campaigners, Berita Harian Malaysia reported.
This revelation came on the heels of another scandal over the use of zakat money when Terengganu Umno, which is an opposition party in the state, accused two state ministers and a former PAS executive council member of using the funds to finance their children's studies abroad.
The PAS politicians, who admitted that their children had taken the money, returned the grants after the scandal broke out.
But a spokesman for Maidam, Datuk Engku Mohamad Abdul Rahman, admitted that zakat money was indeed used to pay for the allowances of missionaries. He was uncertain whether the missionaries, working as religious teachers, were also PAS cadres
