(Nov 24): Despite a sedition probe into his remarks on the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim), Tawfik Ismail maintained his stance that the federal Islamic agency was problematic and needed to be accountable to taxpayers.

The son of former deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman said Jakim’s budget was better used to uplift Muslims from poverty.

He said religious authorities, including the minister and deputy minister in charge of religious affairs, as well as the director-general of Jakim, be redeployed to tackle problems ailing Muslims, such as urban poverty.

“RM1 billion a year can go very far in arresting all the urban problems faced by Muslim youths and prevent them from being Mat Rempit and potential recruits for mischief at home and abroad, and give dignity to their lives.  

“Let the Malay rulers and their religious councils and advisers handle the religious issues in their respective states, as they were constitutionally entitled to do as heads of religion,” he said.

Jakim’s financial history and audited accounts were not available to the public, said a public relations officer after The Malaysian Insider attempted to reach officials to comment on its spending.

Tawfik is being probed after a report was lodged against him for comments in a The Malaysian Insider article where he said Jakim should be abolished as the department had no role in the constitution.

Reacting to news of the investigation, he reiterated his stance on Jakim, saying the agency under the Prime Minister’s Department needed to explain how it could present itself as the sole arbiter on Islam in Malaysia, given the religion’s extreme diversity.

“What law, divine or secular, empowers Jakim to proclaim its version of Islam is the only path Muslims can take, when Malaysia endorsed the Amman Message to accept all eight schools of Islam as legitimate?,” he asked, referring to the 2004 global statement on the unity of Islam and recognition of its different strains.

He added that Jakim’s recent statements pointed to “a government within the government”, with the department having a say in almost every service ministry affecting the lives of Muslims and non-Muslims alike. 

“There is every opportunity for abuse if Jakim is given wide powers to determine what is acceptable or non-acceptable for Muslims and this does nothing at all to strengthen national integration, which is the core of the argument against Jakim’s existence in public life.”

He said Jakim and its supporters must also explain why it was “usurping” the sultans’ powers in matters of religion, given that the Federal Constitution stated that only the state rulers have authority over Islam.

“We are aware that attempts to erode the powers of the Malay rulers have been ongoing since 1993 and the existence of Jakim is a reminder that the struggle continues till today.”

Tawfik, who is also a member of G25, the group of retired Malay top civil servants, urged all Malaysians to take a stand and fight for the preservation of their history, culture and language, by which he said the “extreme right-wing, the revisionists and the exclusivist” felt threatened.

He added that the real culprits fomenting sedition were the opponents of national integration and rational discourse, who ignored the Federal Constitution as the true social contract.

“They are answerable for the significant numbers leaving our shores to fight for an alien cause due to misguided teachings of the religion that encourages exclusivist thinking.

“We as a nation have to look long and hard if we, too, are unwittingly surrendering our Malaysian-ness and our Malay-ness to an ideology alien to our way of life.  

“Are we substituting colonialism and communism for another type of domination? We will be in danger of losing our identity as a nation if we allow these transgressors their way.”

Former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said on Twitter yesterday Jakim had “nothing to do with Islam”.

“Jakim is just another dept to support Putrajaya’s control of the Muslims. Nothing to do with Islam,” he tweeted.

But Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said Jakim had become even more relevant today as it was involved in dealing with Shia and “liberal Islam” as well as threats from militant group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis). – The Malaysian Insider