Funeral cartel: Shut exploitation opportunities, crime analyst says

SHAH ALAM - Crime analyst Kamal Affandi Hashim suggests all opportunities for exploitation, manipulation and monopoly on the activities of funeral management cartels to be reviewed.

He said it was one of the three principles that could be applied in risk management, thus curbing such activities from becoming more rampant.

"It's a lie if we say there is zero cartels. So, what is the principle that we should use? We use risk management. First of all, avoid the risk.

“Second, divide the risk. If the death occurs at home, perhaps the people from the local mosque can help. If it is in the hospital, other parties can help. But both of these can be assisted by the same party for funeral management purposes.

“Third, manage this risk by reviewing the spaces which can create opportunities for exploitation, manipulation and the prevailing monopolies. This is important to ensure that the cartel's activities no longer exist," he said.

Kamal said this during Kompas Rasuah Busters show titled ‘Kartel Jenazah, Sampai Bila?’ (Funeral cartels, until when?) which was broadcasted live on all platforms of Sinar Harian on Wednesday.

The programme was moderated by Zaim Zaini and it had also featured funeral management coach Amir Muttaqin and Amal Valley Organization volunteers Omar Mokhrij Johari as panellists.

Commenting further, Kamal Affandi said, all parties either the victim’s family or society needs to be aware of the issue of the funeral cartels.

He said individuals who turned corpses into a commodity (goods to be traded) was one condemned action.

In the same development, he also suggested improvements in terms of enforcement.

“We need to see and refine whether this enforcement power was given or not. If it is given, we fix it. If not, it is time to consider it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Amir Muttaqin advised the religious department to restructure the implementation of funeral management including selecting only accredited individuals.

He said there might be illegal agents or funeral management companies.

“When talking about these illegal agents, I call upon my friends who are in the religious department to restructure the organisation.

“Individuals who work in hospitals should be those accredited and given proper guidelines in managing the remains. This includes the wage rate and who can manage it.

“Funeral arrangement is an act of worship that involves the Islamic law. So, here we want to ensure that those who managed these corpses are qualified individuals, ”he said.

Previously, several health workers in hospitals at Selangor were remanded for five days for investigations into corruption cases amounting to between RM1,000 and RM5,000 for works related to funeral management.

They were said to have asked and received money from certain individuals in return to obtain funeral management work for the period 2018 to 2021.