If a government body is funded by taxpayers’ money, then it must be prepared to accept public scrutiny and provide details of its accounts and processes when they are demanded by the public.

Any director-general who denies access to the public and threatens any member of the rakyat who demands transparency and accountability is acting suspiciously. He could be hiding a wrongdoing, abusing public funds or mis-managing the government agency, or perhaps, all three.

For three decades, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) ruled supreme. It acted like God’s right-hand man, but in recent years, one could be fooled into thinking that Jakim had taken to acting God himself. Today, Jakim is behaving like a wounded beast, with its pride dented, and forced onto the defensive to justify its existence.

It all started when G25 group of eminent Malays member Tawfik Ismail, announced that Jakim should be dissolved.

Worse was to follow. Instead of keeping quiet, as Malays are wont to do with religious issues, the former MP received strong support from many Muslims, including former PM Mahathir Mohamad. Soon after, G25 demanded that Jakim be audited.

Mahathir said, “The Quran says there is no compulsion in Islam. But Jakim wants to compel everybody to follow Jakim’s version of Islam.” ( sic )

His views had been sought following allegations that Jakim, and other religious bodies were meddling in people’s personal lives.

A day after Mahathir made his claim, Jakim’s director-general Othman Mustapha denied the allegation that it compelled Muslims to follow Jakim’s version of Islam. Stressing that Jakim coordinates the administration of Islamic affairs and promoted Islamic education, he said, "... the view that Jakim monitors the private lives of citizens and forcing its version of Islam onto others is not true and far-fetched.

“At the same time, we embrace diversity and respect differing opinions in practicing the religion, as long as it is based on the Sunni, as well as Shafi’i school of thought.” ( sic )

If Jakim does not force Muslims to follow its version of Islam, how does he explain the series of events which followed Zahid Hamidi’s entry into Najib Abdul Razak’s cabinet after GE13, which resulted in the Shiite community being harassed?

When Zahid became home minister, he suddenly ‘discovered’ 250,000 Shiite Muslims hiding in the country, so he subjected them to a witch-hunt. He even accused former PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu of dabbling in Shiite activities.

‘Bad international image’

The arrests of the Shiites alarmed Universiti Malaya Professor Mohamad Abu Bakar, who warned that Malaysia was gaining a bad international image, and that Sunni Muslims, in the Middle East, had never accused the Shiites of deviating from Islam, despite their differences.

A Baghdad MP, Sheikh Jalaluddin Ash-Shoghir, warned the Malaysian government about singling-out Shiites for persecution. Over 65 percent of the Iraqi population are Shiites and Malaysian firms, including Petronas, have invested in Iraqi oilfields.

The sheikh claimed that the Malaysian government was the first in the world to officially denounce the Shia sect and said, “Malaysian companies are happily reaping multiple projects in Iraq, and many business opportunities have been specially handed to the Malaysian government.”

Jakim claims that it does not interfere in people’s lives, but seems to ignore the conversion of minors, child custody cases, body snatching and forced marriages. Jakim provides ‘guidelines’ for rock concerts, which must be obeyed. Porcine DNA is regularly found in food items, just before Hari Raya.

Jakim persecutes Muslim women, like the Borders book-shop manager Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz, the nurse Kartika Dewi Sukarno, and dog-trainer Maznah Yusof. Syed Azmi Al-Habshee, who arranged a dog handling event, was also hounded. Now Jakim is targeting book publisher Ezra Zaid.

Othman said that Jakim comes under the Prime Minister’s Department (PMD). The Audit Department claimed that Jakim’s financial management was excellent and awarded it the Four Star Rating Award, in 2011 and again in 2014.

He said, “Jakim also has high credibility in financial management, and should not be questioned.”

If everything is excellent, then Othman and Jakim have nothing to fear; instead, Othman has shown a degree of arrogance with his assertion that “Jakim should not be questioned”.

Malaysians, including many Muslims, believe that Islam has been politicised by our politicians and religious leaders for absolute and total control, both physical and mental, of the Malay majority.

Jakim is one of Umno Baru’s tools, which the party uses to stay in power.

Mahathir created Jakim. Whilst he did not curb the powers of this monster, when he was PM, Jakim is not out of the woods yet.

MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army and president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO).