Tiles, carpets among improvements for pilgrims - Southeast Asia Muassasah

Ceramic tiles have been installed on the 20,000 sq ft area in Mina as part of the efforts to provide comfort to haj pilgrims from Southeast Asia this year.

This was carried out by the Southeast Asia Muassasah, the Saudi Arabia authority managing pilgrims from the region.

Its chairman, Muhammad Amin Hassan, said besides the tiles in Mina, the installation of carpet for pilgrims to spend the night in Muzdalifah was also underway and was expected to be completed before the haj season begins.

"These were done for the comfort of the pilgrims," he told reporters after welcoming the first 440 Malaysian pilgrims at the Al Janadriyah Hotel here about 3.30pm local time (8.30pm Malaysian time).

Also present were the Malaysian Haj delegation chief Datuk Syed Saleh Syed Abdul Rahman.

Muhammad Amin said the Muassasah had learned a lot from the way Tabung Haji (TH) manages the Malaysian pilgrims.

"We learned from Malaysia's Tabung Haji's expertise in managing haj pilgrims as we have seen how well-disciplined, well-dressed and well-behaved Malaysian pilgrims are," he said.

Besides, he said the Muassasah had also joined 14 other countries which had emulated TH in implementing standard operating procedures in managing pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Syed Saleh said all the pilgrims who were accompanied by nine TH personnel, were in good condition and ready to perform their religious obligations in the Holy Land.

He said 6,848 of Malaysian pilgrims had arrived here so far and most of them were currently in Madinah.

"Tabung Haji has given them sufficient briefing and counselling sessions, and my advice is for them to observe personal health before deciding of performing multiple rounds of umrah before the haj," he added.