Malaysia’s Anwar slams ‘political drama’ after opposition walks out of Tabung Haji debate

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim accused opposition lawmakers of staging “political drama” on Tuesday after they walked out of a special parliamentary session on a long-awaited royal inquiry into the country’s Muslim pilgrimage savings fund.

The confrontation came less than two weeks after Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition lost power in Negeri Sembilan. During campaigning, the prime minister had repeatedly invoked the Tabung Haji inquiry as evidence of the need to confront corruption and financial mismanagement.

Tabung Haji manages haj savings for Malaysian Muslims, making the inquiry into its governance, accounting practices and investment losses particularly sensitive in a Muslim-majority country where a pilgrimage to Mecca carries deep religious and political weight.

Anwar was absent from Tuesday’s sitting as he was recovering from an elective laparoscopic surgery for a para-umbilical hernia. The opposition had called for the inquiry to be postponed until the prime minister’s return.

Muslim pilgrims offer evening prayers around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site in the holy city of Mecca, during the annual haj pilgrimage on May 24. Photo: AP“Do you want to debate me, or do you want to debate Tabung Haji? Do you want to know about me, or do you want to know about the betrayal of Tabung Haji?” Anwar asked.