RCI on Tabung Haji: UJSB Like ‘Tikus Membaiki Labu’, says UMNO Batu Chief

KUALA LUMPUR — The Tabung Haji (TH) Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) has raised serious questions over the role and effectiveness of Urus Setia Jaminan Bersama (UJSB), with UMNO Batu division chief Gulam Muszaffar describing the entity as akin to “a rat trying to fix a pumpkin”.

Gulam said the findings and presentations by former Accountant General Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Siregar and former Auditor-General Tan Sri Madinah Mohamad had reinforced concerns he had raised from the outset regarding the restructuring of TH.

He claimed that the UJSB, established under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) 1.0 administration when Lim Guan Eng was Finance Minister, had failed to resolve the underlying problems faced by TH and instead created additional financial burdens running into billions of ringgit.

“Alhamdulillah, the TH RCI, which was revealed three days before the Negeri Sembilan state election, and which I believe was politically motivated, has now shown that more harm was done by PH 1.0 compared with the Barisan Nasional era,” he said in a statement today.

Gulam likened the situation to “one finger pointing at the victim, while the other four fingers point back at those making the allegations”.

He claimed UJSB had accumulated liabilities, obligations and commitments amounting to RM25.85 billion, against total accumulated assets of only RM11.44 billion.

“This means that if the assets and liabilities were to be liquidated today, UJSB would still have a deficit of RM14.41 billion,” he said.

Gulam compared the figures with TH’s position in 2017, when it recorded a reported deficit of RM4.1 billion, arguing that the UJSB structure had effectively increased the financial burden by about RM10 billion over seven years.

“Whose responsibility is this?” he questioned.
Gulam also described the RCI findings as an “elephant in the room”, alleging that the wider implications surrounding UJSB and the restructuring of TH were being deliberately overlooked.

He further warned against what he described as forms of “crony capitalism”, “vulture capitalism” and “predatory capitalism”, which he claimed could undermine the business ecosystem of TH, an institution owned by Muslims in Malaysia.

“The elephant is there, but its presence is deliberately being ignored,” he said.

Gulam stressed that the RCI should not only focus on identifying alleged weaknesses in the previous management of TH, but should also examine the consequences of subsequent restructuring measures and the financial burden arising from them.

“Wallahu a’lam,” he added.