LETTER: While the aspiration to perform haj should be encouraged, the waiting list increasingly records that aspiration without adequately indicating whether prospective pilgrims will be financially prepared when their turn arrives.

The 2025 haj season illustrates this when over 15,000 prospective pilgrims, representing 50 per cent of the 31,600 who received offers, declined or postponed their departure, primarily because of insufficient savings.

These refusals required Tabung Haji (TH) to offer the available places to other prospective pilgrims within a limited timeframe, complicating quota management and exposing the weak relationship between queue registration and financial preparedness.

Therefore, the debate is whether those entering the queue have a realistic prospect of accepting an offer when their turn arrives.