PETALING JAYA: The RM135,000 raised through the auction of a Rolex watch belonging to Datuk Dr Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri will be distributed to aid humanitarian efforts in Palestine, through a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Jordan and several NGOs in Malaysia.
The former minister in the prime minister’s department (religious affairs) said RM100,000 will be channelled to Palestine through the humanitarian aid group Muslim Care, based in Jordan.
“Seeing how we will be heading for an annual meeting chaired by Syeikhul Azhar in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates soon, we will take a detour to Jordan at our own cost and hand the money over for those in Palestine,” Zulkifli said at a press conference on Wednesday (Nov 1).
The former Federal Territories mufti said the remaining RM35,000 will be distributed evenly among seven selected Malaysian non-governmental organisations to aid their humanitarian efforts for Palestine.
The organisations are MERCY Malaysia, Global Peace Malaysia, Cinta Gaza, Aqsa Syarif (MyCare), PAS Relief, Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (Mapim) and Aman Palestin.
“I will not take a single cent from the amounts raised in the auction,” he added.
On the winning bid of RM135,000, Zukilifi said it was made during the last seven minutes of the auctioning period.
The watch was also presented to the winner at 3.15pm on Wednesday.
“I was surprised, as I knew the individual as well and did not know he was willing to bid as much,” he said, adding that the winner requested his identity to be kept private.
He also thanked Malaysians and leaders across the divide, who had shown plight towards the issues in Palestine.
On Monday (Oct 30), Zulkifli announced that he would auction off his Rolex, a gift from Saudi Arabia Ruler King Salman bin Abdulaziz, with a reserve price of RM40,000.
Zulkifli added that proceeds from the bidding will be donated to Palestinians, who are currently affected by the ongoing war with Israel.
In the Instagram post, Zulkifli said he received the watch as a gift after he was invited to attend a meeting as part of Bank Negara’s Shariah Advisory Panel in February 2017.
