The government has declined an offer from the Saudi Arabian authorities to send an additional 10,000 Indonesians on the holy pilgrimage this year, citing time constraints.
Following eased Covid-19 restrictions, the government announced earlier this year that Indonesia would be sending some 100,000 pilgrims to go on haj, after two years of health and mobility restrictions that barred potential pilgrims from doing so.
The first batch of Indonesians, consisting of a few thousand pilgrims from Central Java, East Java, Jakarta and West Java, arrived in Saudi Arabia last month, with thousands more to follow until July 3.
But this year’s quota has been less than half of what Indonesia – the world’s largest Muslim majority country – received usually, as around 220,000 Indonesians were set to go on haj in 2020, before the government’s annual programme was cancelled amid Saudi Arabia’s previous suspension of the haj for international pilgrims due to the pandemic.
The Religious Affairs Ministry’s haj and umrah (minor haj) director general, Hilman Latief, said in a press statement on Wednesday that while the government had received an invitation to send 10,000 more pilgrims, it had elected to decline.
Hilman said the Religious Affairs Ministry had sent an official to the Saudi Arabian Haj and Umrah ministry, informing of Indonesia’s decision not to send any more pilgrims due to time constraints.
“They understand the conditions and systems that apply in Indonesia. They understand (Indonesia’s) quota system, serial numbers and other (provisions).
“Haj pilgrims must be carried out based on the applicable regulations,” Hilman said.
As Indonesia received the letter of invitation only on June 21, Hilman said the government could not keep up with the deadline of flying the last batches of pilgrims on July 3, since the deadline for visa applications fell on June 29.
In addition, Hilman said the government would need to conduct a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission VIII, which oversees social affairs, to determine any additional quota and its financing scheme.
The meeting’s decision would need to be followed by the issuance of a presidential and ministerial decree for the additional quota.
The government would also need to verify the data and documents of hopeful pilgrims, while at the same time allocating enough time for the pilgrims to pay their haj fees, which was previously set at just below 39 million rupiah (RM11,470) per pilgrim for the first 100,000 pilgrims. — The Jakarta Post/ANN
