LEMBAGA Tabung Haji (TH) is not operating like a bank by requiring prospective haj pilgrims to maintain a minimum savings balance of RM15,000, says Dr Zulkifli Hasan.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) said the Seruan Istito’ah initiative was in line with TH’s original vision, as envisaged by the late Royal Professor Ungku Aziz, of encouraging financial discipline and early planning among prospective pilgrims.
“TH has its mandate under the Tabung Haji Act. This is a responsibility and a trust.
“TH will continue to act in accordance with this mandate and will not undertake activities beyond it,” he said during the ministry’s winding-up session for Budget 2027 yesterday.
Zulkifli was responding to Datuk Idris Ahmad (PN-Bagan Serai) who urged TH to scrap the RM15,000 requirement, arguing that it placed an unnecessary burden on prospective pilgrims and ran counter to the institution’s original purpose of helping ordinary Muslims save for the haj.
Defending the initiative, Zulkifli said TH’s experience had shown that more than half of haj offers were previously deferred as prospective pilgrims had not made adequate financial preparations.
This affected the efficiency of managing the haj queue and required TH to repeatedly issue replacement offers at short notice, he said.
Following the introduction of the RM15,000 requirement and early reminders, the deferral rate fell to 18%, he added.
Zulkifli said the minimum savings balance remained eligible for annual profit distributions.
