SUCH maybe a sarcastic way to silent rightists or even ‘un-learned’ loyalists of political parties who ticked off non-Muslims for poking their noses in in the management of the premiere Islamic financial institution in Malaysia.
This came about as former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) deputy governor Sukudhew (Sukhdave) Singh said he found it impossible to accept Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s ’s rationale that the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Tabung Haji was withheld out of fear of depositors losing faith in the institution.
“Protecting an institution’s reputation by concealing the truth is not leadership; it’s an excuse to not do anything,” Sukhdave who served in that capacity for over four years (April 16, 2013 to Dec 31, 2017) penned in a LinkedIn post.
What about the RM10 bil in depositors’ funds that vanished? What about the millions of ordinary Malaysians who scraped together their hard-earned savings – ringgit by ringgit – for a sacred pilgrimage, only to have their trust betrayed?
“And most importantly: where is the accountability for those who plundered these funds?
In an obvious pot shot at PMX who is also the Finance Minister, Sukhdave who spent 31 years in the central bank prior to relinquishing his position stressed that “there is no middle ground when it comes to governance: either you are a genuine reformer or you’re a chameleon masquerading as one”.
“Enough with the tired routine of politicians allowing public funds to be plundered, only to quietly plug the hole with taxpayers’ money,” he asserted.
“Taxpayers fulfill their obligations because the long arm of the law leaves them no choice. It seems far easier for the government to squeeze compliant taxpayers than to demand a true reckoning from those who pillaged the funds of Tabung Haji’s contributors.”
‘Rapid turn-around’
Taking Sukhdave’s constructive criticism a step further, it should be made clear that every Malaysian citizen in regardless of their creed and cultural background have the legal right to comment on the hajj pilgrims fund as freedom of speech protects public discussion on government-linked institutions.
However, a line needs to be drawn in that their queries should centre on Tabung Haji’s governance, transparency, corporate decisions or financial health matters.
On the contrary, non-Muslims citizens should at best not interfere with the internal religious rituals, fatwa or theological obligations tied directly to the performance of the Hajj pilgrimage.
Re-capping the contribution of taxpayers in rescuing the ailing hajj fund, it has to be stressed that the government special-purpose vehicle Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd acquired Tabung Haji’s underperforming and problematic assets at a total value of RM19.9 bil despite those assets having a degraded market value of RM9.63 bil at the time.
The RM10.3 bil gap between what those assets were worth and what the government paid for them was absorbed by taxpayers to patch the pilgrimage fund’s balance sheet back to solvency.
Following the appointment of new chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Hussain who was appointed to the role on Dec 20, 2023, Tabing Haji is on the verge of turning around with talks underway to buy back the RM19.9 bil in assets parked at Urusharta Jamaah.
As the 80-year-old who ‘created ‘RHB Bank in 1997 following the merger of Kwong Yik Bank and D&C Bank (Development and Commercial Bank) told The Edge Weekly in a recent interview:
I’ve done it, cleaned it up, have written everything off, whatever needed to be gotten rid of. And I think, in the last two years, we’ve demonstrated in our results that we’ve turned around from a balance sheet point of view. And we have turned [out] to be profitable.
And with profit, the first thing is to pay out a dividend. And we have done that in two stages. From 3%, we jumped up to 3.25%, and last year, we did 3.5%.
All in all, Tabung Haji’s deposits have grown from RM70 bil in 2019 to RM93.4 bil in 2025 and about RM95.3 bil as at mid-2026. The numbers suggest that the confidence level in the institution has improved.
In end-May, Tabung Haji won the prestigious Labaytum Diamond Award for world-class Hajj management, marking its fifth consecutive win overall and its second straight highest-tier Diamond distinction for the 1447H/2026 season from the Saudi Hajj and Umrah Ministry. – July 27, 2026
