Legal protection of consumers of Islamic pilgrimage services in Malaysia

Abstract

The legal discussions about Islamic pilgrimage services (Hajj and Umrah) have emerged in recent years. Malaysia has become one of the key players in this fast growing segment of the tourism services market. It is caused by better condition of the economy of Malaysians including among Muslims that more of them can afford to implement such a religious practice that they embrace. Despite this remarkable development, there have been many consumer complaints related to this Islamic pilgrimage services industry especially the Umrah services. The complaints by Islamic pilgrimage consumer against Umrah service providers were the top in the list of cases filed in the Tribunal for Consumer Claims (TCC). The study aims to provide an effective measure for preserving the rights of consumers of Umrah and certain services of Hajj and also provide the most appropriate mechanism for protecting such Islamic services consumers. This thesis adopts the theoretical research methodology with comparative and legal transplant approaches. Then, it analyses the current Malaysian legal framework for the protection of the consumer of any of those services and explores possible remedies in cases where there is misconduct by the travel agents against those consumers. In addition it explores the adequacy of the existing laws to address the issues of consumer protection in Malaysia with regards to the relevant Islamic religious services particularly Umrah and identify whether the laws are capable of preventing the abuse by travel agents. It argues that the existing consumer protection laws in Malaysia are not sufficient to protect the consumers of those services. Furthermore, this thesis has sought to identify the rules and principles provided by Shariah law which may be implemented in Malaysia to offer an increased or a more effective protection to Islamic pilgrimage consumers. This thesis suggests that the tourism legal framework in Malaysia requires modification in order to improve consumer protection within such a specialized industry, including law enforcement measures in Malaysia.