SAUDIS PRAISED FOR HAJ MANAGEMENT
Deputy minister conveys Malaysia’s appreciation to King Salman on Saturday
MALAYSIA has praised Saudi Arabia’s successful handling of 2.35 million haj pilgrims, who converged on the holy land to perform the Fifth Pillar of Islam this year.
“It is extraordinary to manage the movement and mobilisation of the largest gathering of people in the world over five days involving four key locations — Masjidil Haram, Arafah, Muzdalifah and Mina,” Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said.
Speaking to the Malaysian media, Asyraf said he had conveyed Malaysia’s appreciation to King Salman Abdulaziz Al-Saud at the ruler’s Aidiladha reception for foreign dignitaries on Saturday, and at a meeting with Mecca Governor Prince Khalid al-Faisal Al-Saud on Friday.
“I also conveyed our thanks to King Salman for agreeing to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s request to increase the number of Malaysian haj pilgrims this year,” he added.
Asyraf said the Saudi government’s exceptional treatment included free medical services at government hospitals for Malaysian pilgrims, regardless of how chronic their illnesses were.
Prince Khalid, meanwhile, praised Malaysia for having an institution like Tabung Haji (TH) and its success in managing Malaysian haj pilgrims, whom he described as among the best for their discipline and orderly worship.
“We also discussed Malaysia’s intent to work with Saudi Arabia on building a Tabung Haji Complex that can accommodate our entire haj delegation.
“This would improve Malaysia’s management of haj and lower the cost of managing pilgrims in the long term,” Asyraf added.
Local media reported that Prince Khalid, who is also chairman of Saudi Arabian Central Haj Committee, on Sunday declared this year’s haj season a success.
He attributed the success to the kingdom’s employment of all its human, physical and technical capabilities to serve the pilgrims and expansion and development of the two Holy Mosques and the holy sites.
Prince Khalid revealed that an integrated plan for the development of the holy sites, which will accommodate more pilgrims and provide more services, will be announced soon.
Hosting the large number of haj pilgrims within a limited space — crowd density has been estimated at six people per square metre — required tremendous logistics and facilities organisation and coordination.
As part of the kingdom’s safety and security arrangements, more than 17,000 trained personnel, supported by 3,000 advanced vehicles, have been deployed.
Pilgrims are also monitored by more than 100,000 security agents, supported by face-recognition software and closedcircuit cameras, the report added.
The haj team deployed on the ground, meanwhile, was proficient in more than a dozen languages to ensure the needs of pilgrims were met.