BUKIT MERTAJAM, April 15 – The federal government provides an allocation of RM200 million to develop all wakaf land in Penang. The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said, the allocation will be given in the form of a soft loan fund that will be managed by the Penang Bumiputera Development Council chaired by Tan Sri Khalid Ramli. According to him, for starters, the funds will be used to develop housing projects on waqf land in Permatang Pauh here. One of the ways to increase the socio-economic empowerment of bumiputeras is through property ownership.
Therefore, to ensure that the desire to increase ownership of bumiputera properties in Penang can be achieved and to drive the development of wakaf land, the government has agreed to approve an allocation of RM200 million, he said after presiding over The first Penang Bumiputera Development Council 2023 meeting at a hotel here on Friday. He added that there are many waqf lands that are hundreds of years old that have not been developed in this state. Therefore, with this approved allocation, we will try to develop wakaf lands that are abandoned and not developed according to the correct channel.
This is one of the main tasks of this new council, whether the program is in the form of housing or business, of course according to sharia because the land is wakaf land. Some of these waqf lands are in strategic areas in Penang, so we can develop them for the state’s Malay community,” he said. Meanwhile, Anwar said the central government also approved an additional allocation of RM10 million to enable 1,000 tahfiz students to get skills training and Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) certification.
He said again, it is to produce more civilian bumiputera human capital who are skilled in various technical fields. This program strives to give birth to Bumiputera Muslim children who are holistic and complete with religious knowledge and technical skills. In Penang, there are many maahad tahfiz, therefore, after discussion, there is indeed a need for these maahad to be given exposure training and opportunities to other fields. Otherwise, job opportunities will be stunted. So we agree to use some of these tahfiz students, apart from memorizing the Quran, they will also be given TVET training, he said.
