Syed Othman al-Habshi
Administration of waqf lands in Malaysia-
- Administrative set up of the relevant dept within each State’s Relgious Council requires drastic review in terms of size structure and personnel
- No complete listing of waqf properties made
Observations
- All Muslim cemeteries considered as waqf lands as then exempt from quit rent
- Mosques, suraus and religious schools usually arise from specific wakaf – under Shafie cannot change the purpose of the lands
- Waqf for specific purposes form the largest proportion of waqf lands, particularly for cemeteries
- Concludes that therefore only 10% is available for income generating purposes
- But not all wakaf land has been traced and transferred to the religious departments. Some still in original trustees hands eg mosque committees
- Many of these rented out long term and below market rental
- Many are under Rent Control
- Most are in towns, a few in the rural areas
- Lands transferred subject to quit rent except for cemeteries or if transferred to the President State Religious Dept thereby making it government property – therefore no incentive to transfer the lands – costs money for the religious dept to upkeep the wakaf lands
Development of wakaf properties
- Not well developed. Mostly just rented out
- Melaka and Penang have made some progress at developing wakaf lands. Also Perak and Terengganu
- Many lands are uneconomical in size and shape and sporadically situated
No comments:
Post a Comment