National Farmers’ Organisation (NFO) has allocated for the first time RM420,000 as ‘Duit Zakat’ for disbursement to deserving members from the Islamic faith in the state through Sarawak Farmers Organisation (SFO).
It will be disbursed to economically disadvantaged Muslims who are members of Farmers’ Organization in Sarawak, says Assistant Minister of Agriculture (Farmers’ Organisation) Datuk Sylvester Entri who is also chairman of SFO and a board member of National Farmers’ Organisation.
“This is the first time the organisation is allocating Duit Zakat for Sarawak and we will disburse them through our member farmer organization,” he said yesterday.
The first batch of RM38,250 was distributed to 255 members in Marudi on June 10 during the launching of Baram Farmers Organisation’s 24th annual general meeting at the civic centre here.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau who is the PPK Baram advisor, SFO general manager Peter Umak, BFO chairman Blalang Atom and its general manager Steven Lun Lengidai were among those present.
On what grounds can a national professional body, the Farmers’ Union, justify handing out money to “deserving” members of a minority faith in the state?
And why is a poor Christian less ‘deserving’ than a poor Muslim in the eyes of the Farmers’ Union?
This extraordinary new raid on the fund for farmers has been orchestrated by one Sylvester Entri, Assistant Agriculture Minister, who ought these days to be identified by his secretive new Muslim name Efendi bin Abdullah, as revealed by Sarawak Report some years ago.
If Sylvester/Efendi wants to toady up to his political bosses, the Muslim Malays running Sarawak, by changing his religion, he should at least be open to his Dayak constituents about his religious choice and use this new name publicly.
Of course, the hundreds of millions being poured into Muslim institutions in this drive towards Islamisation are not even being used to benefit the ‘deserving’ of that faith in the manner pretended.
They are mostly lining the pockets of greedy politicians, who are raiding the poor in the name of religion, thereby shaming the faith they profess and harming its innocent followers, who deserve far better than the crocodile leaders of BN.