Govt still waiting for Saudi response on haj quota, says minister

With less than three weeks to go before the start of the haj season, Malaysia has yet to receive an answer from the Saudi Arabian government about the additional quota for this year's pilgrims.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na'im Mokhtar said Putrajaya was still trying to obtain the additional spots by submitting an appeal to Saudi Arabia. 

"We are still waiting for the Saudi government to respond to our appeal," he said during the Minister's Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat today. 

He was responding to a question from Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala Krai) who asked about the outcome of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's visit to the kingdom several months ago. 

It was previously reported that Malaysia had received its original quota for haj pilgrims of 31,600 with an additional quota of 350. 

The government was later reported to have made a second appeal for up to 10,000 additional spots, the outcome of which had been expected last month. 

Saudi Arabia's policy sets the haj quota for each country at a rate of 0.1% of the total population.

This would put Malaysia's official quota at 31,600 based on current population numbers.