Tag Archives: tabung haji

Coffee’O’Clock – CroissxCoffee Melaka

Posted in Everyday Life, Food and Drinks, Places to Eat, Reviews by

I had a Tabung Haji errand to run one day. Before Mother died, she named me the person who should help sort out her financial matters at Tabung Haji. My sister was the second person in charge. Now after nearly two years have passed, I have managed to settle this matter. Finally. Why two years? Long story. All I needed to bring with me was her death certificate and my own MYKAD with photostat copies of each. I had to fill in one particular form, signed a few papers, thumbprint some sections and just like, the paperwork part is done. Now I have to wait for at least 2 weeks for the money to be transferred into my account. From there, I will divide them with my siblings.

The Tabung Haji branch I went to was situated at Banda Kaba. Knowing that it would take a while to get it sorted, I thought I’d go to this cafe at Melaka Raya. It’s one of those places I discovered via Instagram. I loved that the cafe is easily spotted with its bright orange colour and is located at a place where parking is readily available. Come to think of it, I did go there quite early – somewhat around 9am.

It opens at 830AM and is a Muslim-friendly cafe.

Upon walking in, I was greeted by the smell of fresh coffee and sweet pastry. That is when I knew I would enjoy this experience. Cause if the cafe does not smell coffee, it’s not gonna taste nice. I placed my order at the counter, took a seat upstairs and waited for the servers to send it to me.

There is a variety of beautiful-looking pastries to choose from. The croissants were huge too and you could smell the butter on them. The setup of the place is also very Instagrammable and aesthetic. Only I don’t really know how to pose for a good picture to upload on Instagram.

I look forward to having more cafe adventures in Melaka.

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The Haji issue

Posted in Ponderings by

My understanding of going for Haji before this was;

  • You need a minimum of RM1300 in your Tabung Haji (TH) account before you are eligible to apply and register for your Haji turn
  • The Haji trip will be subsidized and are handled by TH accordingly
  • Everyone has a chance to go to Haji because of TH and keeping your money with TH allows you to grow your wealth through the various Syariah-compliant investments available.

Recently, this announcement came up. The Jemaah are categorized based on their income and must make the necessary payments to do Haji as per which group they belong to. I wasn’t really taking heed of the issue until a few of my friends began to raise some ‘puzzling’ points about it.

HAJI is WAJIB only if you can afford to do it. The key word here is berkemampuan. This means that you are in a position where you can do so. This comes in the best form of health and wealth. Therefore what happened before this is that the Malaysian Jemaah will undergo a health check-up before their departure to make sure that they are in the pink of health. Furthermore, during that time – the trip was heavily subsidized thus it is important that the member who benefits from this – can perform the Haji after all. In other words, even though you are unable to pay the full package of Haji on your own, as long as you are healthy and can fork out the minimum amount per pax, you can still go and perform Haji.

Of course, there will be issues of Haji group members who are adamant about still going for the pilgrimage even though medically they are not fit. That is a different story and it gives healthcare practitioners a lot of headaches. It’s because these Haji clients, mostly elderly, will start making remarks like doctors are evil, doctors are sabotaging Allah’s invite to Mekah etc. You get the picture.

This year something new happened. The Jemaah are paying for their pilgrimage trip based on their income categories. The financially adept one, the T20, is to pay the full package price as compared to those who are earning less. The M40s are also required to pay a certain amount which is double what the B40s are paying. It is unclear how much the quota is for the number of T20 and M40 people who are going to Haji but here is what’s bothering my friends. The M40 and T20.

The T20s are still waiting for their call to Haji. However, as I said, it is unclear the quota distribution for Malaysians based on income. So although they are physically healthy and have enough money to go, they can’t go. The M40s are stuck cause while they may appear ‘financially adept’ – it is still a lot to pay as compared to the B40s due to other life commitments. An M40 in a city may live a life just like a B40 in a rural area. Then there is a health issue where guidelines are issued by TH of what level of health status is allowed to join the Jemaah. Morbid obesity and uncontrolled NCDs are all a big NO to performing the pilgrimage.

Then there is an issue of ‘unfairness’ for these payment tiers to existing as it is largely known that those who invest highly in TH, those who made it possible for subsidized Haji to happen are the T20s. Thus, rising the question – shouldn’t everyone get to benefit from the subsidized Haji trip? Why the double standard?

But of course, it is not my place to question these decisions. Perhaps there are other things unbeknown to the rakyat regarding this announcement. It is still my right to write about this here in my personal blog so that I could look back on it in the future and still ponder, WHY.

Pemeriksaan Perdana Jemaah Haji 2019

Posted in Everyday Life, On duty by

This is an initiative by Tabung Haji in collaboration with KKM to ensure that the pilgrims  (jemaahs) are in the best state of health to perform Haj. Primary health centres, hospitals, GPS would nominate a few medical officers to attend a crash course onto the health criterias one has to fulfill prior to flying to Jeddah.

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Most jemaahs would feel nervous attending the medical checkup but I make it a point to inform them that this is merely a stage where we try to detect any health problems and manage it accordingly so that they will be fit to fly and do Haj. And this, we try to achieve within a few months we have prior to the trip. We do not want them to think that we are sabotaging their trips. That is never the intention. In fact, we want them to be at their best.

We just had a big medical checkup event last Saturday. The turnout was about 206 people with a manpower of 11 medical officers and their respective supporting staff. Alhamdulilah, the session did not drag out till late in the evening as it was a Saturday after all.

Thankfully, we are eligible for a day off (at our chosen time) and given RM50 each as  a token of appreciation. lol.

When a patient arrives, they would first register at the counter before going to the next station where they could check their blood group, Hb and glucose levels. Afterwards, their vital signs and measurements would be taken. Then it is a waiting game for them to be called into the examination room. If they pass, they can proceed to take their meninggococcal vaccination in the next room. If they have medical issues to tackle, they would be redirected at the nearest Klinik Kesihatan for a followup review to get a pass for their medical exam.

I would advise prospective jemaahs to being their medical books, medicine and better still their latest blood investigations to the checkup to speed up the process. Especially when some of the patients choose to follow up at their respective private GP. Or buy their own medicine at the pharmacy. We just need to know if there is an acute problem within the last 3 to 6 months that needs further medical attention.

Most of my patients passed the examination leaving just a few to tackle on their high blood pressure and in some, a new diagnosis of diabetes. There were also a few tricky cases especially involving obese and elderly patients as we are divided between thinking of what is best for them and what they want. I have yet to have any clear cut fails but we will see how it is for the next few months. InsyaAllah. 

I am also hopeful to be selected as Allah’s guest one day. InsyaAllah.

Of Duit and Duit Raya Anak

Posted in Good Things, Mini Project by

As a young, novice parent, a mother of one who does not know the value of money yet … I feel obliged to make my boy’s money work for him till he knows better. This means all that he got during the recent Raya goes straight into the bank.

 

You Reap What You Sow 

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When I was a child, my Mother was a home maker. She still is now. She has no high formal education which results in no proper 9 – 5 job. She was raised in a large family with lots of siblings and together with her older sisters, they were forced out of education because of poverty. Her younger sisters however were told to stay in school for the better of all.

Hardship however taught her the value of money. And the importance of having savings. 

After being married to Father who was a civil servant, she received a monthly allowance to manage the household. Its a once a month ‘fund’ and from that she has to figure out how much to use for what. So the usual benefactors included bills, groceries, fuel and such. Being the smart woman that she is, she added another ‘category’ – children s saving accounts.

Her deposits into our accounts were not hundreds at a time but it was consistent. She also made us save part of our duit raya or birthday ang pow to put inside the tabung. She would frown if she caught us ‘taking an overdraft’ from the piggy banks and made us save double the usual portion.

She made us do chores in exchange of money. We swept, cleaned, scrubbed and mopped. So far, she hasn’t made us sell kuih in the neighbourhood but I guess we got the idea.

Since Mr Husband insists on being the sole breadwinner of this family – meaning he wants to pay for everything… this then leaves me a working mother,  to put my money into good use. Which is part of my salary after putting aside for myself and my mother, would go to my dear boy.

I also practice a form of Spontaneous Saving Technique. Everytime I get a MYR20 bill note, I would not spend it. Instead, I will keep it and put it in my boys account. Easy, right..

I have read of some people doing the weekly savings ; For instance, a $1 for the first of Jan, $2 for the next week and the increments are in a $1 until you reach week 52 of the calendar where you have to pay $52 for that week. Interesting saving tips..

I wonder though if there are any other tips out there.. for saving money.

Baby Zeeq’s first bank account with Tabung Haji

Posted in Everyday Life, Mama Minci by

“The saving man becomes the free man.”
 Chinese Proverbs
 

Baby Zeeq is approaching 2 months old and already he has a bank account. I opened his first savings with Tabung Haji (TH). The process was a breeze and the service at TH Kuching was very customer friendly. All I needed was my own identification card and Baby Zeeq’s birth certificate. The syillings from our piggy banks started rolling into the machine and soon enough Baby Zeeq exceeded his first hundred MYR. Yeay!

 

 

MYR 224.50