Tabung Haji refers to the country’s Muslim pilgrimage savings fund, which was created to allow the country’s Muslims to save for haj without borrowing or selling their property.
The previous government had launched a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into problems surrounding the fund between 2014 and 2020, and a 211-page report was submitted to the king in August 2022 but made public only on Jul 29 this year.
The RCI, which was approved in July 2021 under the administration of then-Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, identified weaknesses in governance and financial reporting, including sweeping ministerial powers, politically influenced board appointments and “creative accounting” to inflate profits and sustain generous payouts despite a widening asset-liability gap.
This year’s PKR congress is closely watched as it comes on the back of recent electoral thrashings for the party and the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which Anwar also leads.
Across the three most recent state elections in Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan, PKR only won four out of the 49 seats it contested.
The biggest blow for PH and PKR came most recently on Aug 1 when the coalition lost control of the Negeri Sembilan state assembly after being at the helm since 2018.
PH’s losses have been attributed largely to the rise of a so-called Malay-Muslim pact between the Barisan Nasional coalition, led by lynchpin party United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), and Perikatan Nasional, led by Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS).
The BN-PN pact swept a two-thirds majority in both Johor and Negeri Sembilan, garnering a significant portion of the majority Malay-Muslim population.
If the alliance holds to the next general election – analysts and local media have projected that BN-PN could clinch a simple majority and form the next government.