Special Aidilfitri aid for 66,258 mosque officials, religious teachers

PUTRAJAYA: The Finance Ministry has announced that a special payment of RM400 will be credited to religious services staff in mosques nationwide for the upcoming Aidilfitri celebrations.
In a statement today, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the directive issued by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will see those including imam, bilal, muezzins, religious teachers and mosque administration staff receiving the special payout, similar to those in the federal government civil service.
"A total of 66,258 individuals from all over the country consist of 12,500 imam, 8,650 bilal, 3,950 'takmir' teachers, 8,394 'Tok Siak / Norja / Merbot', and 32,764 Fardhu-Ain Basic Skills (Kafa) teachers will receive this RM400 special payment.
"The total cost of this payout which amounts to RM26.5 million has been channeled to the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and is expected to be directly banked in to each individual account soon," he said.
Lim added that the payout is not inclusive of the Bantuan Sara Hidup Rakyat (BSHR), formerly known as BR1M, that will be credited separately.
"The federal government has since channeled RM1.6 billion to nearly 4.1 million BSHR recipients starting from June 6.
"I hope the initiative can help the recipients' preparations for Hari Raya," he added.