Haj business haggling<\/p>\n
This archipelago has been sending haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia
\nfor centuries. Lately the number of people wanting to fulfill the
\nfifth tenet of Islam has significantly increased. However, this
\npositive trend is not without problems.<\/p>\n
Although the authorities allow certain private travel agencies
\nto send pilgrims to the Holy Land, some unauthorized
\norganizations have intervened in the lucrative business by
\nallowing their clients to travel to Mecca on the standard green
\npassports instead of the brown ones especially issued to
\npilgrims. In the past this unauthorized business did not appear
\nto cause any serious problem.<\/p>\n
However, this year it was no less that President Soeharto who
\nordered Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher to deal
\nharshly with those going to Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage
\non illegal tours.<\/p>\n
According to Tarmizi, who met with the President to report on
\nthe situation, thousands of Indonesians have left on unauthorized
\ntours and many of them have been arrested by the Saudi security
\nauthorities. In response to the report, President told the
\nminister that the "illegal" pilgrims would have to be flown back
\nhome on the Garuda flights, which are returning from taking the
\nbrown-passport pilgrims to the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The minister's statement was reportedly based on recent
\nreports from Saudi Arabia saying that the chairman of the
\nSoutheast Asian pilgrimage committee there had booked 14,000 beds
\nfor "illegal" Indonesian haj pilgrims, 10,000 of whom left
\nthrough Singapore and the rest through Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta
\nInternational Airport, which have never been used for sending
\npilgrims on the officially organized trips.<\/p>\n
In light of the fact that the President expressed some
\nirritation upon hearing the minister's report, it is important to
\nnote that the veracity of the existence of the "illegal" pilgrims
\nis still in question.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, the state-owned Radio Republik Indonesia
\nquoted the Indonesian consul general in Jeddah who questioned the
\naccuracy of the figures mentioned. And the Saudi Ambassador in
\nJakarta, Abdullah Abdulrahman Alim, flatly denied on Tuesday that
\nhis government had arrested any Indonesian pilgrims.<\/p>\n
Tarmizi's statement about the detention of the pilgrims, which
\nbecame headlines in local newspapers, must have sounded
\nexcessively harsh to the ambassador's ears because such an act
\nwould be in blatant violation of Koranic law which forbids people
\nfrom banning Moslems from entering the sanctuaries of Allah. And
\nhaj pilgrims are none but God's very own guests who enter the
\nHoly Land to visit the Kaaba and other sacred sites.<\/p>\n
The sending of pilgrims to the Holy Land by unauthorized
\norganizations has been going on for a long time. Many of those
\npilgrims say that they receive decent services for reasonably low
\nrates from the illegal agents.<\/p>\n
The problem seems to be little more than administrative
\nbecause the Ministry of Religious Affairs failed to detect the
\npractice.<\/p>\n
Therefore, the most correct solution to the problem might be
\nnot to send the pilgrims back home before they can carry out
\ntheir religious duties, but to arrest the managers of the
\nunauthorized agencies who sent them there. Earlier reports said
\nthat the Saudi authorities conduct raids on umrah (minor haj)
\npilgrims who go there before the holy month of Ramadhan with the
\nintention of overstaying until the high haj season begins about
\nthree or four months later. But in the run-up to the peak day of
\nthe haj season on May 21, the Saudi government has shown
\ntolerance toward those who have already arrived there with legal
\ntravel documents.<\/p>\n
So, the problem of the "illegal" pilgrims as reported to the
\nhead of state seems to require some clarifying. And the fact that
\nafter the Saudi ambassador rejected the statements, Tarmizi did
\nnot say anything, makes us feel the need to ask just what is
\nreally happening.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/haj-business-haggling-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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