AS many flash flood victims are slowly coming to terms with devastation to their personal assets and property, social activist Siti Kasim posted a rather disturbing tweet yesterday (Dec 26) that a cheque issued by a church was rejected by Bank Muamalat in Seremban as it was deemed “not halal”.
The issue came to light when the Wah Chai Association, a Seremban-based Chinese charity group deposited a Maybank cheque issued by the Agape Community Church to fund the beautification of the Lee Sam Road Chinese Cemetery in Seremban.
At a media conference yesterday (Dec 26), Lobak state assemblyman Chew Seh Yong said the Wah Chai Association’s executive secretary was later informed that the cheque was “not genuine” when he went to retrieve the cheque from the nearby Bank Muamalat branch.
According to Sin Chew Daily which was present at the media conference, Chew who deemed the seriousness of the issue alongside two representatives of the association then returned to the bank on Thursday (Dec 23) “to try to deposit the cheque again”.
However, the deposited cheque was bounced again on the same grounds that it was “not genuine”. Following an ensuing negotiation between Chew and the bank, the branch finally accepted the said cheque after receiving instruction from its headquarters.
In the media conference, Chew cleared the air to assuage the Chinese business community that the incident was due to unclear policies and misunderstanding of bank policies by the bank’s staff.
Well, the incident might seem to be one-off but in light of the sensitivity surrounding the issue of halal-ness in recent times – from allegations of churches trying to sway the faith of Muslims to food distributed to flood victims by the gurdwara (a Sikh place of worship) – racial harmony in Malaysia is undeniably facing a litmus test.
The authority/ies in-charge of race relations must step up a gear to find ways and means to patch up the gaps lest the three major ethnic groups will start identifying themselves as Malays, Chinese and Indians as opposed to one single Malaysian race.
Moreover, the cheque in question is plain and valid, hence should be legally transacted as it has no element of graft, bribery or corruption whatsoever attached to it.
It is hoped that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) view the incident seriously by issuing clear guidelines to banks pertaining to handling cheque clearance while banks must provide relevant instructions to their staff to refrain from making personal interpretation but to always consult their headquarters when in doubt. – Dec 27, 2021
