Thai haj delegation wants to emulate Tabung Haji’s (TH) success in haj and Islamic fund management, in order to upgrade and provide better services for Thai pilgrims.
Head of the Thai Haj Delegation Dr Zakee Abdulaziz Pitakkumpun said it was beneficial for the country's haj mission team to learn from TH, which has 60 years of experience in helping Malaysians embark on their pilgrimage to the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.
"I have to admit that Malaysia is a role model in terms of educating people from an earlier age to save for a religious mission like haj.
"This is one of the aspects that we think is very attractive for us to understand and learn," he told reporters after meeting his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Syed Saleh Syed Abdul Rahman at Makkah TH headquarters, Abraj Janadriyah.
Zakee said the country's haj management body could only facilitate haj pilgrims and did not have control over other activities such as depository services and investment.
Zakee said 11,300 Thai pilgrims would perform haj this year, even though the country has the quota of 13,000 pilgrims per year from the Saudi Arabian government.
Thai Muslims have to pay between 220,000 and 280,000 baht (between RM29,300 and RM37,200) for 40 to 45 days stay to perform haj this year, he added.
Meanwhile, Syed Saleh said TH also shared the model used by the institution in facing the increase in the cost of haj every year.
"With the strength of the available funds, we make investments and then give the returns to depositors so that they can increase their savings to perform haj.
"With this strong fund, we can also manage hotel and flight bookings from the beginning without having to wait for pilgrims' savings. We can also manage long-term agreements to avoid cost increase," he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency