‘BNM as regulator for TH will benefit investors’
BALIK PULAU: Tabung Haji depositors should not be worried about the move to put Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) under the supervision of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh said people should refrain from being racist.
She was responding to an online petition launched by a person named Esmee Mat Isa at change.org objecting to the body being placed under BNM, which is under the Finance Ministry.
Esmee has claimed that TH is now placed under the purview of a non-Muslim, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
“That is too far-fetched. Why not look at it this way? The Finance Ministry is under the prime minister, so why are these people against the move?
“They have bad intentions. They are trying to confuse the people using racial issues.
“This is not good for the country,” she said at the Mutiara Food Bank programme here yesterday.
The petition was started four days ago and has garnered more than 21,000 signatures.
Fuziah said BNM served as a regulator for TH.
She said prior to this, BNM had no role in the institution and when there was any malfeasance, it could not take action against TH to rectify the situation.
She said TH chairman could make decisions to invest anywhere he wanted and financial reports could be manipulated.
Now, under the purview of BNM, any wrong practice could be quickly detected and BNM could stop TH from committing illegal activities, she said.
“BNM is the regulator for all banks and financial institutions. If there is no regulator, there will not be checks and balances.
“Who is better than BNM? This is the hard-earned money of the people.
“We’re taking steps to safeguard their interests. This is an advantage to depositors.”