1984 PILGRIMAGE

Mr M.K.A. Jabbar asked the Minister for Social Affairs (a) how many Singaporeans went on the Haj in 1984 through arrangements by the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura; and (b) whether there were any problems encountered by them and how were they resolved.

Dr Ahmad Mattar: (a) 2,947 pilgrims performed the Haj this year through the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS).

(b) Our pilgrims and also those from other Southeast Asian countries encountered problems as a result of the Muassasah system introduced for this region by the Saudi Ministry of Haj and Endowments this year. The Muassasah is an agency set up to coordinate arrangements for pilgrims from a specific country or region. The objectives of the Muassasah system are:

i. to upgrade the standard of service for pilgrims;

ii. to regularise the fees charged by the Makkah syehs;

iii. to prevent pilgrims from being overcharged by unscrupulous syehs;

iv. to eliminate the annually recurring problems of water shortage, poor transportation service and poor quality of food provided; and

v. to group pilgrims of the same country together so that they can be better looked after.

Among the problems encountered by the pilgrims were poor accommodation, inadequate supply of water, difficulty in obtaining food and poor transportation service.

MUIS is collating information from pilgrims, pilgrim brokers and the team of Medical/Welfare officers who accompanied the pilgrims during their Haj on the problems they encountered.

MUIS will then take up the pilgrims' problems with the relevant Muassasah agency so that these may be resolved.