Ismee Ismail,

Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,

Lembaga Tabung Haji,

We, the undersigned, are among the over five million Malaysians who have deposited money with Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) as savings towards the eventual performance of Haj, as part of our obligation as Muslims.

We are writing this letter to you to express our concern over the management of depositors’ funds by Tabung Haji, specifically with reference to the many media reports lately questioning the integrity of certain decisions made by Tabung Haji in handling its investments.

We refer to the articles Tabung Haji CIO quits over Petra Perdana in the New Straits Times/ Business Times on 11 February 2010 by Shahriman Johari, and ‘Tabung Haji has some answering to do’ in The Edge (Feb 15).

Referring to the first article, we are alarmed about the way Tabung Haji’s newly appointed Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Halim Alias went against Tabung Haji’s instructions in voting during a decisive EGM to resolve a major boardroom tussle for the control of public-listed company Petra Perdana Bhd, in which Tabung Haji has a significant 10% minority stake.

According to media reports, decisions made at this EGM would have direct implications on the credibility and profitability of Petra Perdana. Your newly appointed CIO, who was not even confirmed as a permanent employee yet given the power of proxy to vote at this EGM, then abruptly gave 24-hours notice to resign from his post and subsequently disappeared after only a month with your organisation.

In the said article, your general manager for public affairs and corporate communications, Abdul Rashid Hussein, then made a nonchalant statement that it ‘is not unusual for anyone to leave an organisation’ when asked by the media why your CIO had left so abruptly.

We would like to point out to Tabing Haji that despite the nonchalance of your corporate communications head, his response is unsatisfactory. There are many things that are indeed ‘unusual’ not just about your CIO’s behaviour but also about the management of Tabung Haji’s investments as a whole, which were questioned in detail by the second article.

The said article further raises disturbing questions not just about Tabung Haji’s management of investments in Petra Perdana but also other companies like Ramunia, Silverbird, KFC Holdings and Lityan Holdings. The article concluded by asking: ‘The question that has often cropped up is, who benefits the most from the investment decisions made by Tabung Haji? Does the pilgrim fund end up tops most of the time?’

We would like to remind you of the commitment by Tabung Haji to ensure that savings of depositors are prioritised above all other considerations in your investment and management decisions. We refer to your corporate website , under ‘Maklumat Am Pelaburan’ where it is stated:

‘Di dalam mengendalikan aktiviti pelaburan, pihak pengurusan Tabung Haji sentiasa mengamalkan dasar pelaburan berhati-hati dan berhemat. Setiap aktiviti yang dijalankan oleh syarikat-syarikat terlibat akan sentiasa diawasi bagi memastikan ia halal dan menguntungkan dan berdaya maju.’

We, your depositors, would like a response from Tabung Haji on the many questions raised by the media.

To begin with, we would like to suggest that perhaps you could inform the public through the media how Tabung Haji plans to reverse the negative fallout arising from the behavior of your newly-appointed and newly-resigned CIO with reference to the decisive vote at the Petra Perdana EGM on Feb 4.

We are sure Tabung Haji understands that a proper response and an action plan are needed by your goodself and your senior management in order to address our legitimate concerns that our hard-earned savings are not put at risk and to regain the trust of the millions of your depositors in Malaysia.

This letter is also signed by:

Marina binti Jaafar

Ali Shahrir Roose

Nor’Azimah Abd Aziz

Haji Ahmed Azhar Abdullah

Pauline Melissa Drury Abdullah

Puan Normah binti Karim

Wan Mahadi bin Wan Mahmud

Norizan binti Mohd Yazid

Rohani binti Mustapha

Noraini binti Kassim

Hasnah binti Mahmood

Mohamad Amin bin Bawai

Rosiawati binti Mohamad