Zahid: Don’t politicise religious matters

The deputy prime minister has called on all quarters, despite their political differences, to use the political platform to strengthen Islam.

PETALING JAYA: Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi today called on all quarters, despite their political differences, to not politicise religious matters.

Instead, he said, they should use the political platform to strengthen Islam.

“It’s my principle that we can have differences in opinions, differences in political belief, but in (Islamic) religious matters, we should not use religion for politics,” he said when sending off Malaysian pilgrims for the haj pilgrimage at the Tabung Haji Complex in Kelana Jaya here today.

Touching on haj management in the country, Zahid said the federal government, through the Pilgrims Fund Board, or Tabung Haji (TH), had allocated RM260 million in subsidies, or RM9,570 per person, for haj pilgrims this year.

He said Malaysian haj pilgrims only paid RM9,980 each to go for the pilgrimage, while those in the neighbouring countries had to pay not less than RM15,000 each.

“If there is a state which gave RM500, Alhamdulillah (praise to God), thank you, but do not feel proud because it is ‘ibadah’ (worship), not for politics,” he said.

Zahid said it was because of the King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s trust in Malaysia and the country’s top leadership that various benefits were obtained in the haj operations, including the selection of Malaysia as the first country in the world to be allowed to implement the pre-clearance programme for its haj pilgrims.

The programme allows Malaysian haj pilgrims to undergo pre-clearance at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) before departure so that they would not have to go through the Immigration and Customs checks at airports in Jeddah and Madinah.

The deputy prime minister also advised the Malaysian haj pilgrims to exercise discipline when performing their haj rituals and to protect the good name of the country.

Also present to send off the pilgrims were TH chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar and Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah.

A total of 483 pilgrims are scheduled to leave for Mecca at 5pm today. The flight, which is the second last, is scheduled to arrive at 9.10pm (Saudi Arabia time).

The last flight, which is the 113th, is scheduled to leave for the holy land tomorrow. The total number of Malaysians performing the haj this year is 30,200 pilgrims. - FMT