The Haj quota for countries set by the Saudi Arabian government is based on the population and does not have anything to do with politics, said Fuziah Salleh, the new deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

The quota was 0.01 per cent of the population and, as such, the quota for Malaysia for this year’s pilgrimage was 30,200, she said to reporters before officiating at the presentation of Excellence Service Awards and the Dakwah Youth Fellowship Graduation events in Putrajaya today.

Tabung Haji, the pilgrims fund board, had dismissed a news portal report yesterday that the Saudi Arabian government would impose a restriction or reduce the official Haj quota for Malaysia this year. Its general manager of the Haj Department, Syed Saleh Syed Abdul Rahman, said the quota remained at 30,200 as last year’s.

On another matter, Fuziah called on the relevant agencies to look into the need to provide creches at the workplace to help working mothers.

“That should be our commitment. We do not want others to go through the suffering experienced by the parents of Adam Rayqal Mohd Sufi,” she said.

Adam Rayqal, a five-month-old boy, was found dead and stuffed in a refrigerator at the home of his babysitter in Batu Caves on Tuesday.

- Bernama