New balloting scheme by Muis for Muslims to claim additional haj spots
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Saudi Arabia allocates 900 places for Singaporean pilgrims to perform the haj every year, but has the discretion to issue additional places to each country.
PHOTO: BH FILE
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SINGAPORE - Starting in 2023, Muslims here who wish to increase their chances of being offered a spot to perform the haj pilgrimage will be able to tap a new automated balloting scheme.
Developed by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), the limited balloting scheme will be integrated into the MyHajSG platform, which allows applicants to register for the haj.
The scheme is “designed to be a fair, efficient and transparent process to fill up the additional haj places within limited and short duration of time”, said Muis in a statement on Monday.
Saudi Arabia allocates 900 places for Singaporean pilgrims
It normally does so from the Muslim month of Syawal – when Muslims celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri – onwards, with the haj performed about two months later during Zulhijjah, the final month of the Islamic calendar.
To be eligible for the new balloting scheme, applicants must be performing the haj for the first time and be registered in the Advance Haj Registration System (AHRS) between Jan 1, 2013 and Dec 31, 2017.
They must also meet Saudi Arabia’s criteria, which may include age and health requirements.
According to Muis, there are a total of 48,000 people in the AHRS, with approximately 20,000 eligible for the scheme.
Eligible applicants will be contacted via SMS and e-mail to register for the balloting. They are advised to update their contact details through the MyHajSG portal.
Applicants can either register for an individual, or for groups of not more than five people.
Each applicant has to pay a one-time registration fee when he applies to be part of the balloting scheme. The fee will be $50 in 2023, $75 in 2024, and $100 subsequently.
Verification checks will be done before the balloting process begins to ensure the eligibility of applicants, who should ensure that they meet the given criteria before applying for the scheme, said Muis.
A Pilgrimage Committee will oversee the computer-generated allocation of ballots, and Muis will appoint an independent witness to observe the process. Counter-verification checks will be done on the balloting results before successful applicants receive a letter of offer.
Muis said it developed the new balloting system after learning from its experience in 2022, when Singapore was granted 493 additional haj places one week before the first batch of pilgrims were scheduled to depart for Saudi Arabia.
The council had to reach out to about 4,000 applicants in the AHRS queue to fill up the places within three working days, but a significant number of applicants in the queue were not ready – either “physically, mentally, spiritually (or) financially” – to perform the haj at short notice, it added.
Interested applicants should consider factors such as a short notice period, limited options in terms of accommodation and flights, and higher prices before they commit to accepting extra places offered this year, said Muis.
The haj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and Muslims who are physically and financially able to do so are expected to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetime. It is an annual affair which occurs from the eighth to the 13th day of the final month of the Islamic calendar.
