Day: December 27, 2021

SHAH ALAM, Dec 27 — The Selangor Zakat Board (LZS) will provide RM600 in assistance to flood-affected families beginning in the next couple of days through a direct bank-in method, and only requires a police report or confirmation from community leaders on their status.

LZS chief executive officer Saipolyazan M Yusop said the board had received about 32,000 applications since the programme was launched two days ago.

“Some 14,500 applications have been confirmed with documents, while another 17,000 applications were sent with incomplete documentation,” he told reporters here today.

He said LZS had only requested minimum documentation so that aid could be channelled as soon as possible, and although the amount of RM600 was not much, it could provide the families some post-flood assistance.

Meanwhile, he said at the 2021 LZS Business Zakat Handover Ceremony held at Wisma Perbadanan Kemajuan Pertanian Selangor (PKPS) here today, LZS received business tithes from 46 companies amounting to RM6.81 million, which would be distributed to 422,000 individuals from 65,000 asnaf families, and 13,000 families in the temporary poverty category in Selangor.

Radicare (M) Sdn Bhd topped the list of companies that paid their business tithes with RM984,122, followed by SIRIM Qas International Sdn Bhd (RM943,149) and KDEB Waste Management Sdn Bhd (RM531,498).

Among other companies that handed over their tithes were Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd (RM496,078); Selia Selenggara Selatan Sdn Bhd (RM440,811); Bank Pembangunan Malaysia Bhd (RM439,963) and Etiqa Family Takaful Bhd (RM405,000).

According to Saipolyazan, LZS has also provided various types of zakat assistance to individuals and associations totalling RM976,303.

The Selangor Association of Tahfiz Al-Quran Institutions (PITAS) received Maahad Tahfiz Debt Assistance amounting to RM853,303, while Mohammad Nazri Sudinan, who is a poor asnaf registered with LZS, received house building assistance amounting to RM93,000.

Meanwhile, Idris Abdul Hamid@Alias Yatim received medical assistance of RM30,000 and two other individuals received the LZS Higher Education Scholarship, namely RM15,120 for Aziemah Abdul Aziz to further her studies in civil engineering at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), and RM12,394 for Nazlifa Fisyabillah Noorazman who is pursuing medicine at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM).

Saipolyazan said during the pandemic and flood situations, many parties had approached LZS to hand over assistance, which included those who began contributing zakat for the very first time, and others who increased their contributions.

Apart from that, he said the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS) also received contributions from other states which LZS and MAIS had previously helped out as well, and they were Sabah, which sent RM100,000, Penang (RM150,000), Kedah (12,000 bags of rice), Johor (4,000 packages of dry goods) and Perlis (RM20,000 worth of prayer items)

“LZS, the agency under MAIS, would like to thank the states that have contributed in our efforts to help the asnaf, as well as the Muslims in Selangor, when we were hit by the pandemic and floods,” he said.

Also present at the ceremony were Selangor Mufti Datuk Dr Anhar Opir and LZS Board of Trustees member Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Abdullah.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

MELAKA, Dec 27 — The Melaka government has tabled the state’s Budget 2022 with the theme “Melaka stability for prosperity together” with an allocation of RM507.92 million, of which RM427.92 million is allocated for operating expenditure and RM80 million for development expenditure.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali said the operating expenditure comprised liabilities estimated at RM10.48 million while supply expenditure was estimated at RM417.44 million.

He said the development expenditure involved RM56.36 million from the state’s revenue and a RM23.64 million grant provided by the federal government.

“Therefore, in drafting the Budget Melaka 2022, the state government’s revenue is estimated to be RM428.91 million, comprising an estimated tax revenue worth RM211.05 million, non-tax revenue of RM200.31 million, and non-revenue receipts of RM17.55 million,” he told the 15th Melaka state legislative assembly (DUN) in Seri Negeri Complex here today.

Sulaiman said the state government continues to strive to improve its financial performance, including focusing on controlling the current deficit, reducing debt and increasing reserves, realigning expenditure which should be borne by the federal government as well as reactivating cooperation between the government and the private sector.

He said the state government has successfully increased the state’s reserves to RM15.970 million as of December 2021 compared to RM960,000 in 2020 under the Melaka savings trust fund.

The state’s revenue for 2020 of RM392.88 million, Sulaiman said, was above the RM390.22 million target, while in 2021, RM445.96 million in revenue was targetted.

“Compared to 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic, there is an increase in revenue receipts up to Dec 26, 2021, where the state government achieved revenue collections of 98.34 per cent with a value of RM438.57 million. However, based on the revenue not yet registered, it is expected that the state government’s revenue for 2021 would surpass the target set,” he said.

He said the inclusive budget would consolidate and restructure existing and new initiatives, which would be implemented by focusing on three main areas, namely people’s well-being, economic sustainability, and efficiency in governance.

In conjunction with the presentation of the state budget, Sulaiman also announced that a one-off assistance worth RM150 would be given to babies born in Melaka today through the opening of an SSPN-i account.

Special financial aid of half a month’s salary, or a minimum of RM1,000, will be paid to 5,087 Melaka civil servants which will be paid as early as January or April next year.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency