No more special haj quota for ministers, MPs

The giving away of some of the haj quota to ministers and members of parliament and letters of support have been stopped, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh.

She said this had been decided at the agreement of the Cabinet and had been implemented at the haj season this year so that the quota of 30,200 people allocated by the Saudi Arabian government would maximally benefit those who were truly qualified.

‘’The quota for the people become less, resulting in a much longer waiting period when small amounts of the quota are milked and given to certain quarters, to the point that a haj pilgrim is forced to perform the haj when he or she is already old and enfeebled.

‘’A quota which has been given to certain quarters, even if it is only 50, is sometimes sold off. They take away the right of those who are qualified,’’ she told reporters after attending a 'community dialogue with the Kuantan Member of Parliament' in Kuantan yesterday.

She said the giving of letters of support to facilitate applications to perform the haj would also be stopped in line with the decision of the Pakatan Harapan government which did not want the practice to be a normality.

‘’If there is an appeal (to perform the haj), we will only extend it for consideration by the quarters concerned based on the procedure. Only those qualified will be considered and there will no longer be any special treatment,’’ she said.

In another development, Fuziah said the issue of Quran and Fardu Ain (Kafa) teachers who would be absorbed into permanent posts was expected to be settled in the middle of next year since a study on it would only be completed in March.

She expected the issue would take about one month to be discussed in the cabinet, and if things proceeded smoothly, there would be a possibility that 5,000 of the 31,460 Kafa teachers would be the first group to benefit.

‘’An analysis which was conducted found that most of them have a degree or diploma in the Arabic Language or Islamic Studies. We may offer the S29 grade scheme, namely, under the diploma qualification for those absorbed, despite their degree qualifications.

‘’Meanwhile, those with Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), with experience and not willing to further their studies to the diploma level, may be offered the S19 grade but on the condition they received the approval of the cabinet because this was not in the 2019 Budget,’’ she said.

- Bernama