Jakim officers not for policy-making, says minister

KUCHING (Sept 3): Islamic Development Department (Jakim) officers are placed in government agencies and departments to facilitate the organisation of Islamic religious programmes, and not for policy-making purposes.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar said while there are Jakim officers placed in government departments, their roles are limited to organising Islamic religious programmes.

“Jakim officers only organise (religious) programmes. You may check Jakim’s statement dated Aug 7 on this issue, where we explained about this issue previously,” he said as quoted by The Star.

In the statement that Na’im referred to, it was stated that the current federal administration under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not made any decision to place Jakim officers in every government department.

This decision, according to the statement, was made many years ago under different administrations since the 1980s until the early 2000s.

According to Jakim, the position of its officers was established due to the need for managing Islamic affairs in line with the implementation of the ‘Policy on the Infusion of Noble Values’, which has been in place since the early 1980s.

This policy was later renamed the ‘Policy on the Infusion of Islamic Values in Public Services’ (1985) and the Islamic Work Ethics (1987).

“The placement of Jakim officers began in 1982 with attachés in London and Indonesia.”

“This was followed by appointments in the Agriculture Department, the Prisons Department, the Social Welfare Department, the Home Affairs Ministry, the National Security Council and several other government agencies.

“In 2001, the government issued a general circular on the guidelines for the Conduct of Lectures on the Infusion of Islamic Values in Public Services.

“To further strengthen this, the government introduced the Islam Hadhari approach in 2007.

“To facilitate its implementation, Jakim officers were placed in all ministries, departments and federal agencies, as well as in several state-level service agencies,” said the Aug 7 statement.

Jakim said the government has consistently upheld and safeguarded Islam and its sanctity, in line with the recognition granted by the Federal Constitution, which designates Islam as the religion of the Federation, as stated in Clause (1) of Article 3 of the Federal Constitution.

Last Monday, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) expressed concern over claims that Jakim would place its officers in all government departments for policy-making purposes.

The group said in a statement that Jakim’s alleged encroachment into the public sphere may be unconstitutional as it could affect the fundamental rights guaranteed to all Malaysians.

MCCBCHST also argued that Jakim’s role in ensuring government policies align with Islamic principles would fall outside the constitutional scope of the term ‘Islam’ as interpreted by the courts.

“Jakim’s involvement in government policy-making may be unconstitutional as in the public sphere, only such Islamic acts as relating to ‘rituals and ceremonies’ are included,” the group said in the statement.