WHAT does 1970s criminal Botak Chin have in common with 1MDB?

For starters, the notorious gangster reportedly distributed the proceeds of his crimes to those I need, like Robin Hood. And like bandit of English legend, Botak Chin hoped that his charity would whitewash his life of crime.

It didn’t work.

Fast forward to more than 40 years, 1MDB is also trying to put on a coat of respectability to the controversy surrounding the missing billions by funding haj trips.

Columnist Subky Latf made this comparison in an article published in Harakah Daily yesterday. 

He said since 2011, the troubled state-investment firm had sponsored 5,711 people to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at the cost of RM56 million.

Subky calculated that this meant that 952 people became “1MDB Hajis” each year.

“That was quite a large allocation, but it is miniscule compared with the money that has vanished, just a few per cent. Like grains of rice stuck to your teeth.”

But Subky then pondered if a Syariah compliance panel would have approved of the 1MDB action.

He said if a haj was valid (sah) if the pilgrim paid for it using lottery winnings, then those sponsored by 1MDB had nothing to worry about as it was the investment firm who had questionable dealings.  

“Maybe the question of the haj’s validity does not arise. Do not enquire how the lucky person paid for his pilgrimage. But whether the haj is good (mabrur) could be an issue.”

Subky said even though 1MDB spent RM56 million to sponsor pilgrims, it would not cleanse the firm of the “dirt” that it had accumulated.

“In the 1970s, there was a bandit in Kuala Lumpur named Botak Chin. He distributed his ill-gotten gains to the homeless. Though he made great acts of charity, he was hunted for his crimes. The Robin Hood of Malaysia was eventually killed.”

He drew parallels between the philanthropic bandit and 1MDB, saying that the millions spent on pilgrims could not atone for the missing funds.

“So what is 1MDB’s intention? Is its banditry justifiable?

“Those who are blessed for doing charity do so for Allah. All that is done for Allah must use clean sources.

“If the intent is to be a Robin Hood, then the intent is not clean, what more if the one was acting like Ali Baba and the 40 thieves,” Subky said.

He said some people misappropriated company funds in the name of religion to mask the misdeed from the public eye.

“1MDB might then have a gathering of its Hajis, and each of them will not believe that the 1MDB money was stolen. For added glamour, maybe they should be called Robin Hood Hajis.”  – July 4, 2017.