ANOTHER RESPONSIBILITY ASSIGNED

Officers of Lembaga Zakat Selangor and research team members

Yesterday I was at UKM again. This time was at the Chancellor Foundation, to fulfill an invitation by the Foundation, on behalf of the Selangor Zakat Board (Lembaga Zakat Selangor, LZS). The aim was to discuss on a research project on the reassessment of the LZS' zakat distribution guidelines. The research was proposed by the LZS itself, in an attempt to improve the distribution of zakat in the state of Selangor.

The meeting was concluded with an establishment of a research team, consisting of academicians from three universities. They were Associate Professor Syed Ghazali Syed Wafa (head), Associate Professor Dato' Hailani Muji Tahir and Dr Sanep from UKM, myself from USM and Dr Hassan Baharom and Dr Abdul Halim from UiTM.

The research will undertake a content and textual analysis approach, apart from focussed group discussion and participant observation. It will begin by studying relevant existing documents available at LZS and elsewhere, followed by going down to the ground to see the realities. The expected end result would be in the form of suggestions to the LZS in line with the terms of reference agreed in the meeting.

I was ferried to KLIA by LZS driver not long after the meeting. Yes, it was a day return. I flied to KL by 7.10 am flight and returned home by 4.00pm flight. What a small world.

With Associate Prof Dato' Hailani Muji Tahir of UKM, one of the research members