SEPANG: The first group comprising 295 haj pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia following the reopening of internationals borders received a warm send-off from the Prime Minister at Movenpick Hotel and Convention Centre here.
The group departed for the Holy Land via Saudia Airlines flight SV5635 from Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 1.35pm yesterday, and arrived in Madinah at about 5pm local time, Bernama reported.
One of the pilgrims who got to chat with Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was Azimatul Zamzam Muda, 50, from Kuantan.
She said the Prime Minister wished her and her husband a “mabrur” (accepted by Allah) haj.
Mek Teh Taib, 62, from Kuala Terengganu, said she had been waiting for 14 years since 2008 to perform the pilgrimage.
“In 2020, I received an offer to perform the haj but during that time we were not allowed to go to the Holy Land.
“This year, I am very happy, Alhamdulillah, to be offered again,” said the housewife who was accompanied by her 36-year-old son.
Also present to see the group off were Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Idris Ahmad; Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz; Lembaga Tabung Haji group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Amrin Awaluddin; and Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Malaysia Datuk Dr Mahmoud Hussien Saeed Qattan.
The Saudi government has allocated a haj quota of 14,306 pilgrims to Malaysia this year.
A total of 48 Malaysia Airlines and Saudia Airlines flights will take Malaysian pilgrims to the Holy Land, with the last flight on July 3.
Tabung Haji haj executive director Datuk Seri Syed Saleh Syed Abdul Rahman, who is also the Malaysian haj delegation head, said they were satisfied with the smooth reporting process for the first flight.
According to him, there were three pilgrims from the first group who tested positive for Covid-19.
“They informed us in advance and we advise them to go through the procedure set by the Health Ministry, which is to undergo a proper quarantine.
“Once free of symptoms, they should obtain advice from the ministry and if the RT-PCR results are negative and the flight is still available, we will try our best to get them to the Holy Land,” he said.
Syed Saleh advised prospective pilgrims to take the RT-PCR test 56 hours before reporting at the departure stations and immediately inform Tabung Haji if the results are positive to enable the board to make plans to help them perform the haj this year.
