Malaysia will negotiate for larger tents in Arafah, Mina for comfort of haj pilgrims - Fuziah

From Fadzli Ramli

MAKKAH, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Larger tents in Arafah and Mina are among the improvements that should be negotiated with the Saudi government to ensure the comfort of Malaysian haj pilgrims.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Fuziah Salleh said the comfortable space was important as pilgrims would spend four days for the Masyair phase (the most challenging phase of the haj) in the area.

"The space in Mina is about 7.2 square feet (0.67 square metres) (for a congregation), for the entire four days.

"The space is not big enough, it's less than 2 feet x 7 feet. We can negotiate but the area is gazetted like that," she said at a press conference after visiting pilgrims and observing the pilgrimage operations at the Tabung Haji Makkah headquarters at Abraj Janadriyah here today.

Also present were TH Chairman Tan Sri Mohammed Nor Md Yusof, TH Board Member Datuk Ahamed Basheer Mohd Hussain, and Malaysian Haj delegation head Datuk Seri Syed Saleh Syed Abd Rahman.

For the record, a total of 151 tents with an overall construction area of 34,520 square metres were built for Malaysian pilgrims, while in Mina a total of 403 tents with an overall construction area of 25,314 square metres.

This year, 30,200 Malaysian pilgrims will perform the fifth Islamic pillar with the help of 640 TH personnel.

Meanwhile, Fuziah said to resolve the issue of the long waiting list of pilgrims, beginning this year those who had performed the Haj would not be allowed to re-register for the second time.

"We understand the issue of senior citizens having to wait too long to perform the pilgrimage so we consider various ways (to solve the problem) to clear the backlog, which is a challenge but the Board of Directors (TH) is committed to solving it," she said.

Commenting on this year's pilgrimage operations, she said TH should be commended for making this year's pilgrimage smooth-flowing and initiatives such as Makkah Route is expected to continue in the future.

"Malaysia has been selected for Makkah Route for the last three years because our pilgrimage management is the best and convenient for the pilgrims, it takes very little time for the immigration process of our pilgrims," she said.

-- BERNAMA