Rethink placing Umrah under TH
Published on: Saturday, December 23, 2017
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) President Datuk Tan Kok Liang said the association disagrees that the Umrah be placed under Tabung Haji as advocated by a consumers' association."The amount lost in Umrah scams average RM5 million per year and is very much lower than the RM5 billion losses suffered by one million Malaysians through money game investment scams for this year alone. Nevertheless, it is heart-wrenching to see the hopes of pilgrims dashed by ruthless swindlers," he said.Tan said most of the culprits were middlemen between imams and tour operators that disappeared after in possession of large sum of money.
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Such risks, he said could be reduced by holding licensed Umrah tour operators accountable for the action of sub-agents, be they tour agencies or individuals representing them."However, it would not prevent large scale fraud such as the one that was discovered in Terengganu at the end of last year where 4,800 potential pilgrims were cheated of RM14.2 million, many of them teachers, by the top management of the Terengganu Education Department," the President stressed.Annually, Tan said the vast majority of Umrah pilgrims, numbering several hundred thousand, travelled without incidents. It would be unwise and irresponsible to dismantle such an established mechanism and put hundreds of Muslim businesses and thousands of employees in jeopardy, he added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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"As such, the necessary safeguards are already in place, and there is no need to reinvent the wheel," concluded Tan.
