Balloting Scheme for Singaporean Muslims to Perform Haj Pilgrimage

Dr Wan Rizal asked the Minister for Social and Family Development and Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs (a) whether the limited balloting scheme has reduced the waiting time for Singaporean Muslims to perform the Haj pilgrimage; (b) if so, by how much; and (c) whether this scheme prioritises first-time Haj pilgrim applicants.

This year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) allocates 900 places for Singaporean pilgrims to perform the Haj. The existing Advance Haj Registration System (ARHS) allocates these 900 official Haj quota to pilgrims.

In addition, KSA also has the discretion to allocate additional places to each country. In past years, KSA granted additional Haj places to Singapore very close to the departure date of the first batch of pilgrims. Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) officers would then reach out to applicants who were in the queue to fill up these additional Haj places within three working days. During the allocation process, MUIS noted that a significant number of applicants in the queue were not prepared to perform the Haj at such short notice.

Learning from this experience, MUIS has developed the Limited Balloting Scheme to allocate the often very large number of additional Haj places within a short period in a fair and transparent manner. Under this scheme, Haj registrants who are able to commit to the Haj pilgrimage even with short notice can submit their application to ballot for a place. The balloting will be done through a computer-generated randomised algorithm. The Limited Balloting Scheme will be implemented when MUIS receives updates on the additional Haj places from KSA for future Haj seasons, where there is a need to allocate a large number of places at very short notice. It will not be applied this year.

With better utilisation of both the official and additional Haj places, we hope to eventually ease the backlog of Haj registrants and thus reduce the overall waiting time for pilgrims to perform the Haj. However, this depends on the official and additional Haj places granted by KSA. Other countries have also adopted balloting as a way to allocate Haj places.

The Limited Balloting Scheme will only be offered to prospective first-time Haj pilgrims who have been in the AHRS queue for more than five years. Applicants who performed their Haj previously are not eligible to register for the additional places offered through this balloting exercise.