Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah today graced the ceremony for the handing over of an RM56 million allocation from the Federal Government for the allowances for imams and other religious staff including Al-Quran And Fardhu Ain (KAFA) teachers in Selangor for this year.
A mock cheque was presented by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar to the Sultan of Selangor at the ceremony held at Istana Alam Shah, here.
The sultan’s private secretary Datuk Mohamad Munir Bani in a statement said His Royal Highness thanked the Federal government for providing the allocation.
Mohamad Munir said previously, the allowance payments for imams, ‘bilal’, ‘siak’, takmir and KAFA teachers for states were sent to the Menteri Besar.
"However, when the chairmanship of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) (which was previously held by the prime minister) was taken over by the Ruler, the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) coordinated the delivery of allowances for imams, bilal, siak, takmir teachers and KAFA teachers to the states through the respective Rulers as the Head of Islamic Religion, to be channelled to the state’s Islamic Religious Department," he said.
He said it was hoped that the latest method of handing over the funds for allowances would smoothen the process and avoid it from being politicised.
Earlier, Mohd Na'im in his speech at the ceremony said the Federal government had allocated a total of RM56,412,369.60 to Selangor for this year, and the funds would be channelled to the Selangor Islamic Religious Department through Jakim.
He said the allocation covered the remuneration for 752 imams at the rate of RM850 per month and the allowance of takmir teachers at the rate of RM900 per month involving 242 teachers.
The allocation also includes a special one-off payment of RM600 and a Social Security Organisation (Socso) contribution of RM232.80 per year for a total of 2,482 individuals comprising imams, bilal, siak and takmir teachers.
The provision also involves an allowance payment of RM1,261.35 per month as well as a special one-off payment of RM600 to 2,800 KAFA teachers.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency