COMMENT Lembaga Tabung Haji (The Pilgrimage Fund or TH) by its very name conveys a strong meaning. ‘Haj’, being the fifth pillar in Islam, in itself is a powerful word in the Muslim world.

It is Man’s direct connection with God and considered the final commitment to one’s faith. It is the day where Man gather in the barren field of Arafah to invoke God’s mercy seeking atonement for his sins.

But in the recent Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) land deal with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), it is not about the barren land nor a penance for sins.

It is about plundering the pilgrims’ trust fund to fill the coffers of those who have been shown to splurge it on expensive champagne or debauched parties and questionable investments.

The sale of the one acre land to TH for RM188 million, yielding 1MDB hundreds of times more profit, is an outright sin. Muslims are proud of their Islamic honour and yet this can  happen so blatantly to those placed in trust of such a fund used for prayer purposes.

If a Japanese can commit harakiri to retain honour, and a South Korean prime minister can resign following a ferry tragedy, why couldn't the senior executives in TH who are also members of the board of directors of 1MDB who had approved the purchase of the controversial TRX deal do the same thing?

Resign now and facilitate investigations; have you no honour or shame to fellow Muslims?

The act of buying the said land from 1MDB, and then selling back the land, shows something is amiss or seriously wrong with the purchase in the first place.

The fact that the Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has ordered the re-selling of the land does not absolve the four in TH - including chairperson Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, group managing director, CEO Ismee Ismail, investment panel member Abdul Samad Alias and deputy group managing director and deputy CEO Johan Abdullah – whom are all office holders in 1MDB.