Haj fee to rice despite more efficiency<\/p>\n
Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Haj pilgrims will have to pay more in the upcoming haj season,
\neven though the government has recorded Rp 525 billion (US$54.17
\nmillion) in unused haj funds from the last pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
Each pilgrim will have to pay between $2,600 and $2,800,
\ndepending on their places of residence during the one-month trip
\nto Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Last season, Indonesian pilgrims paid
\n$60 less.<\/p>\n
Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni said on
\nThursday that the increase was unavoidable due to higher oil
\nprices, although the government had managed to reduce domestic
\ncosts related to the pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
\"We are sorry we could not fulfill our hopes of not increasing
\nthe haj fee this year,\" he told the press after a meeting with
\nPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
The increase comes as the interdepartmental anticorruption
\nteam set up by the President continues its investigation into the alleged
\nmisuse of unused haj funds accumulated between 2001 and 2004
\namounting to Rp 684 billion. Instead of depositing the funds in
\none account, as was required under law, the money was deposited
\nin a number of different bank accounts, some of which were
\nunrelated to the haj.<\/p>\n
Former religious affairs minister Said Agil Hussein Al-
\nMunawwar and the ministry's former director general for Islamic
\nguidance and haj management, Taufiq Kamil, have been named
\nsuspects in the case and have been detained.<\/p>\n
The team also found indications that the haj fee of up to Rp
\n25 million per pilgrim exceeded the real cost of the pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
Maftuh claimed that the ministry had managed to cut domestic
\ncosts from around Rp 900,000 last year to Rp 700,000. Domestic
\ncosts involve the cost of accommodation, meals and transportation
\nprior to departure for Mecca.<\/p>\n
\"There is nothing the government can do about the soaring oil
\nprices and the weakening rupiah. Moreover, the cost of living in
\nSaudi Arabia is also going up,\" said Maftuh, who was formerly the
\nIndonesian envoy to Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
He said air fares accounted for most of the increase in the
\nhaj fee.<\/p>\n
The President asked Maftuh during their meeting to do his best
\nto explain the fee increase to the public, the minister said.<\/p>\n
The Saudi government has set the quota for Indonesia at
\n205,000 pilgrims for the upcoming season, which starts next
\nJanuary.<\/p>\n
Maftuh said that several changes had been made to haj
\nmanagement and policies earlier this year in a bid to improve
\nservices to pilgrims.<\/p>\n
Among the changes were a reduction in the number of officials
\nguiding the pilgrims from 418 last year to 306. There would be no
\nstate officials given free trips to Mecca, except for a few
\npersons heading the delegation.<\/p>\n
Maftuh said the unused haj funds left over from the last
\npilgrimage would be spent on the construction of dormitories for
\nstudents of state Islamic universities in Surabaya, Jakarta,
\nYogyakarta, Medan and Makassar, and an office building at the
\nministry's headquarters on Jl. Thamrin, which would be put up for
\nlease after construction was completed.<\/p>\n
The construction of each dormitory would cost Rp 5 billion,
\nwhile the high-rise office building would cost about Rp 300
\nbillion.<\/p>",
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