TABUNG Haji (TH) is at fault for causing hundreds of prospective haj pilgrims to be stranded at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport last month, the Malaysian Umrah and Hajj Travel Agency Association (Papuh) said.

Its president Razali Mohd Sham told The Malaysian Insight that the matter could have been avoided if TH had allowed more agencies to organise haj and umrah pilgrimages.

He said the problem lies with TH when it decided to issue haj operator licences to certain “likeable” agencies.

“It is TH’s fault. The licence is given to certain agencies. The agencies TH does not like will not be given the licence.

“What sort of criteria do these favoured agencies have? We don’t know. As for us (Papuh), we feel TH should allow more agencies with good track records to take pilgrims for haj or umrah.

“They can’t just use the same agent. There should be a change of system in TH,” said Razali.

He said he had met with three different religious affairs ministers under three different governments in the past four years about this issue but his concerns continued to fall on deaf ears.

“I have met with the minister from Pakatan Harapan, I met with the Perikatan Nasional religious affairs minister and I have also met the current Barisan Nasional-Perikatan Nasional minister.

“The answer given to me was always the same. ‘Show us the proof’ and ‘there is no such thing’ were the replies I received.

“How can this still happen (stranded pilgrims)? Hundreds of Muslims were left behind at the airport,” he said.

Previously, Razali had accused TH of operating a “cartel” system with the same players to the detriment of pilgrims.

Razali said TH should not appoint the same agencies every year to organise pilgrimages. Instead, the agencies should be rotated every two years.

“The time has come for the ‘TH cartel’ system to be overhauled and other agencies given a chance to become a haj operator licence holder.”

Haj and umrah travel agencies must possess an operator licence issued by TH. It is an offence under the Tabung Haji Act 1995 to organise a haj without a licence.

Only 20 licensed agencies are registered with TH, with the rest possessing a licence from the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.

On July 7, about 380 prospective haj pilgrims found themselves stranded at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, believed to be victims of a scam by a private travel agency.

The group, who had gathered at level 5 of the KLIA departure hall, was said to have been issued the furada or private haj visa to perform their pilgrimage without going through Lembaga Tabung Haji.

The furada visa is a private visa reportedly issued by Saudi Arabia, without involving the quota allocated to TH.

Stranded pilgrims not TH’s fault

Meanwhile, former deputy minister in charge of religious affairs, Fuziah Salleh said the issue of stranded pilgrims was not TH’s fault.

The Kuantan MP recalled how a similar incident occurred in 2019 when many were duped by the furada visas issued by the Saudi embassy.

“I think pilgrims must be careful. For example, if the quota is only 10,000, then only 10,000 visas are issued while the rest have to wait,” Zuraida said.

“There is another visa given by the Saudi embassy – the furada visa, which is given to VIPs, for example ministers. They can request for the furada visa and it will be issued at the discretion of the Saudi government.

“But some irresponsible individuals will misuse this visa to dupe others into believing that they can perform haj with this furada visa. The furada visa has nothing to do with Tabung Haji. It is completely different.

“Even if you have savings in TH, you cannot withdraw your money if you are using the furada visa.”

It was reported that 121 police reports were lodged on fraudulent haj and umrah pilgrimage packages using private furada visas, involving three travel agencies.

Secretary to the police, Noorsiah Mohd Saaduddin, said of the RM5 million reported losses, Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest number of reports (48) and RM2 million in losses, followed by Selangor with 30 reports and RM956,300 lost.

Pahang recorded 18 reports with a loss of RM1.2 million, while Kelantan, Perak and Johor received six reports each, with a loss value of RM608,000.

“Kedah received three reports with a loss of RM48,000, while Negri Sembilan recorded two reports with a loss of RM170,500, and Terengganu and Penang recorded one report each with a total loss of RM70,000,” she said in a statement recently. – August 2, 2022.