DECEMBER 19 — Last week ended with yet another controversy dogging the government and this time it affected the mass majority — Muslims.
A total of 30,200 Muslims conduct their Umrah every month. The Integrated Manasik Monitoring System (IMAMS) was meant to protect pilgrims from being scammed by unscrupulous Umrah package operators and providers.
However, someone convinced the powers-that-be that IMAMS should be the only channel for Umrah visa applications to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Malaysia.
The first sign that something was not going well with IMAMS was when it was revealed that the company’s registrars and operations comprised non-Muslims. This of course was the storyline used to derail the scheme — a day after it was launched.
It’s a shame that PKR secretary-general Datuk Saifuddin Nasution opted for the “non-Muslim” narrative when he could have questioned penalising pilgrims when addressing flaws in the system.
Probably realising it was making a bogeyman of non-Muslims, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said the issue was a top-down miscommunication and focused more on the fee — RM40 instead of the RM90.10 that was charged.
The Tourism Minister went on to say it was not compulsory which begs the question why make adhering to regulations discretionary.
Adding to this confusion is the Umrah Regulatory Management Council which jumped the gun and said it was mandatory for all 65 travel agencies accorded with the Umrah special licence to adopt the system.
The Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi then said the Cabinet, while endorsing the need for such a system to enhance regulatory requirements for pilgrims and protect them, did not agree to it being managed by a private company.
Now, it is feared that some poor civil servant, someone on the lower rungs of the food chain will be made the scapegoat, left to shoulder the blame for this “miscommunication” — a favourite crutch for when not-so-well thought out schemes go to hell in a handbasket.
But one must consider that the root of this problem is the lucrative potential provided by over 30,000 faithful who, after saving for a lifetime, would not think twice of spending another RM90 to fulfil their lifelong dreams.
One must remember, each time there is a large group of potential consumers, there will be the enterprising lot who will find opportunities to capitalise off this large consumer group.
Eight years ago, the Malaysian Fisheries Development Board (LKIM) instructed fish importers, exporters and wholesalers to use insulated containers from a sole supplier.
These containers cost between RM150 and RM250 each, and were meant to replace the standard ones that cost between RM80 and RM160.
The decision was scrapped following protests by the fishing community, and the question of a monopoly awarded to an alleged crony company.
Some years ago, the brewery boys also were up in arms following a hair-brained money-making idea: to tag individual beer cans and bottles to assure the drinker that he’s having an authentic brew.
A cost of 4 sen would be added to the production of each can, making some rent-seeker an overnight millionaire. Considering that about 500,000 litres of beer are brewed daily, this translates into 1.5 million beer bottles and cans which are produced daily.
So you see, having a non-Muslim at IMAMs was never the crux of the issue. There should not be any issue, in this day and age and in a multi-faith country as ours, of non-Muslims being involved in providing services for Muslims.
After all, Muslim politicians were once involved in Selangor’s pig farming business, with one Umno leader with a share in a pig import business, famously photographed showing the thumbs up from inside a pig sty during a lawatan sambil belajar to China.
So perhaps it would save a lot of people a lot of grief and red faces, if for once, parties come clean and just state the obvious: it’s all about making money.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
