No special quota for haj pilgrimage: Jamil Khir

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom (pix) today pointed out that there is no special quota or special visa given to any individual including the Cabinet ministers on the rotation to perform the haj pilgrimage.
He said Tabung Haji (TH) had introduced the 'Open Registration System' since 1993, that is the method of 'first come, first served'.
"All TH depositors who had registered for the haj, will be eligible to be selected to perform the pilgrimage when the time of the year allotted to them came for their turn to perform the pilgrimage," he said in a statement in reply to the public confusion on the haj quota and turn to perform the pilgrimage, here today.
He said the perception arose because of the public misconception on the statement issued by a certain party via the social website.
He said the rotation system was implemented according to existing procedures which is strict, except if there was a vacancy due to a depositor postponing his turn or because of the death of a depositor.
Jamil Khir said TH would consider the vacancy for those who had made an appeal much earlier including those concerning the 'mahram' or close relative such as the husband, children or father to accompany a woman aged 45 and below.
"TH will also consider the appeal from would be pilgrims aged 75 and above. The selection to perform the haj according to schedule is done by the Auditor-General's Department and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)," he said.
He explained that the quota for Malaysian pilgrims had been set at 0.1% of the total population registered under the United Nations (UN).
The quota allocation was agreed upon by members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), he said.
"However, the haj quota for every country had been reduced by 20% since 2013 following works to widen and develop the Haram Mosque in Makkah which is actively being implemented by the Saudi Arabian government," he said.
He said the widening of the Haram Mosque aimed to provide comfort to the pilgrims performing the haj and umrah rituals in future which resulted in the reduction in the haj quota from 27,900 to 22,320 per year. — Bernama