SEGAMAT – It was not easy for the government to decide on postponing umrah, however, the decision was necessary for the benefit of everyone following the Omicron variant threat.
Minister at Prime Minister’s Office (Religious Affairs), Senator Idris Ahmad said that the ruling has nothing to do with discrimination against the Muslims as alleged by certain quarters.
According to him, the decision was made together with relevant agencies by taking into consideration of the suggestions given by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the latest Covid-19 threat.
“This is a national problem, the people’s problem. No such thing as discrimination as alleged. It should not be.
“Do not accuse us of afflicting the Muslims. The MOH presented data. We could see how this disease was brought into the country. These are all data and facts,” he said after visiting the flood victims at Sekolah Agama Kuala Paya today, commenting on the government’s decision to postpone umrah effective of 8 January.
Besides that, Idris said that there were proposals for the umrah pilgrims to go for mandatory quarantine at hotels or certain places to replace the current home quarantine.
However, he said that it could not be implemented due to the lack of quarantine venues and logistics.
“We need at least 1,000 beds per day. In the end, we had to decide on postponing umrah. We do not want this disease to spread and it would create more problems,” he said.
Therefore, Idris requested the people to be more open-minded about the government’s decision as it was made to benefit the public. -MalaysiaGazette
Read More:
Infuriated umrah pilgrims: 5 hours to wear tracking devices at KLIA
2 Omicron cases involving Umrah pilgrims from Penang
