KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 ― A recent news report regarding the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) now being placed under the jurisdiction of the Conference of Rulers is imprecise and could be considered as "confusing”, the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal Tan Sri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad clarified today.

In a statement, Syed Danial said the report on local daily The Star’s website and which was also featured by other news outlets, had said Jakim was now placed under the Conference of Rulers following a decision by the Conference of Rulers during its 258th meeting on March 9 and 10.

"That report is kurang tepat (not so accurate) and considered to be possibly confusing,” he said in the statement.

Syed Danial instead said the Conference of Rulers’ meeting had decided that one of the Rulers should fulfill the role and responsibilities of chairman of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs Malaysia (MKI) for two years on a rotating basis, while the prime minister would be appointed as deputy chairman.

He said this decision was in line with the perakuan (credentials presented to the Conference of Rulers by the Jawatankuasa Tertinggi Hal Ehwal Islam Peringkat Persekutuan or the highest committee on Islamic affairs at the federal level which was chaired by the late Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid).

Syed Danial said the view presented to the Conference of Rulers by that committee was that it was more fitting for MKI to be chaired by a Ruler, as Islam is under the jurisdiction and discretion of the Rulers.

Syed Danial added that this was discussed between the Rulers and the government and that a consensus was achieved, and that the Conference of Rulers had in this 258th meeting then assented to select the Selangor Sultan to be the MKI chairman for a two-year period.

Syed Danial also said the appointment of MKI’s chairman had been done by the Conference of Rulers since the council was formed in 1968 by the Conference of Rulers itself, and that assent had been given in the past for the prime minister — starting from the late Tunku Abdul Rahman — to fulfill the role of MKI chairman.

Previously, The Star had removed the article — which Syed Danial was referring to — from its website.

On Jakim’s website, it states that a secretariat for the MKI was formed at the Prime Minister’s Department in the past, and that such a secretariat had started carrying out its duties in 1970.

Jakim said this MKI secretariat was later upgraded to be the religion division in the Prime Minister’s Department in 1974 and that this division was later expanded in 1984, and was in May 1985 renamed as the Islamic affairs division (Baheis) in the Prime Minister’s Department.

Jakim’s website also states that Baheis was then upgraded to become Jakim in January 1997, and states that the MKI secretariat is now known as Jakim after having undergone such name changes over the years.

Based on the Malaysian government’s Budget 2022 speech, it has allocated RM1.5 billion for the management and development of Islamic affairs under the Prime Minister’s Department.

Malay Mail’s check of the Finance Ministry’s estimated RM12.2 billion expenditure for the Prime Minister’s Department in 2022 showed that over RM1.12 billion had been allocated for the operational expenditure for the purposes of Islamic development and with an expected 3,591 personnel. This is out of the entire RM4.52 operational expenditure budget for the Prime Minister’s Department for 2022, with the Prime Minister’s Department having an expected development expenditure of almost RM7.68 billion for the same year.

The operational expenditure estimate of over RM1.12 billion included RM956.6 million for Jakim and with expected personnel remaining unchanged from 2021 at 1,466 for the year 2022.

In this same document, Jakim’s function is listed as strengthening the drafting and streamlining of Islamic laws in Malaysia, strengthening the coordination of the administration of Islam nationwide, and strengthening the coordination and development of Islamic education at the state level and the federal level.