KUALA LUMPUR – The Saudi Arabian Government has set 14,306 pilgrims quota for Malaysia this year.
The latest figure is merely 45 percent from the usual annual quota of 31,600 individuals in the previous years.
The Minister at Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), Datuk Idris Ahmad said, the same percentage was also applied on other countries.
It is in line with the announcement of Saudi Arabia, which only allows one million pilgrims for the hajj season this year, or 40 percent from the 2.5 million pilgrims in 2019.
At the same time, the Kingdom also fixed that 85 percent of the 1 million pilgrims will be from the foreign countries.
According to him, the figure is higher than 2019, when Saudi Arabia only allowed 75 percent of foreign pilgrims into their country.
This year, they also set several requirements on the hajj pilgrims such as below the age of 65, no chronic diseases, has Covid-19 vaccination certificate and must show a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test within 72 hours from the departure date.
The requirements are set according to their evaluation and preventive measures to ensure the health and safety of the hajj pilgrims around the world.
Therefore, Idris said, TH will issue the offer letters soon and the selected future pilgrims must do their health examination and answer the offer letter immediately.
The future pilgrims are also advised to be ready with their documents, especially the passport.
“I request all future hajj pilgrims to make appropriate preparations in terms of knowledge, health, physically, mentally and financially,” he said during the announcement of Malaysia Hajj Quota 2022 today.
All hajj pilgrims from Malaysia must also get their Meningococcal and Covid-19 vaccination jab when they are requested by the Ministry of Health so that the vaccination process could be conducted according to the required timeframe.
He added, the Tabung Haji (TH) is making the final preparations to bring the future Hajj pilgrims from Malaysia to the Holy Land after it the two years delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Idris said, PH will continue to support the cost of hajj this year.
The management of Tabung Haji will be making an announcement on the new payment term for the hajj pilgrims tomorrow. -MalaysiaGazette
