Haj pilgrimage quota -- how relevant is it?<\/p>\n
By Santi WE Soekanto & Wisnu Pramudya<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"It's just shocking!\" was the way Minister of
\nReligious Affairs Tarmizi Taher recently described the increase
\nin the number of people registering to go on this year's haj
\npilgrimage.<\/p>\n
As of early this month, the number of Indonesians taking part
\nin the pilgrimage has reached a record high of 240,000, or 50,000
\nover the quota of 190,000 set by the Saudi Arabian government.<\/p>\n
Some 40,000 have now been put on the waiting-list, pending the
\noutcome of Tarmizi's mission to Riyadh this weekend to negotiate
\nfor a higher quota from the Saudi authorities.<\/p>\n
\"We predicted an increase when we opened the books for
\nregistration. But a forty percent increase is just way beyond
\nexpectations,\" Tarmizi said, throwing his hands up in disbelief.<\/p>\n
Shocking it may be, but the trend is hardly surprising.<\/p>\n
The number of Indonesian haj pilgrims has been jumping by
\nleaps in recent years, a trend officials proudly attribute to the
\nincreasing prosperity and religious awareness of the nation's
\nMoslem community.<\/p>\n
Last year saw 165,000 people take part in the annual
\npilgrimage to Mecca, up from 125,000 in 1993 and 105,000 in 1992.<\/p>\n
Every year the pilgrimage is a big headache for the minister
\nof religious affairs, whose office coordinates all of the haj
\narrangements, from the pilgrims' travel and accommodation to
\ntheir guidance and counseling prior to and during the pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
Last year, a controversy was sparked by reports that thousands
\nof would-be pilgrims were making their own arrangements and
\nthereby taking up the quota allocated to pilgrims traveling under
\nthe official scheme. Eventually, however, everyone was
\naccommodated.<\/p>\n
This year, Tarmizi faces a different problem: how to
\naccommodate 40,000 pilgrims who exceed the Indonesian quota.
\n\"Pray for me that I will succeed in convincing the Saudi
\ngovernment to raise the quota for Indonesia, so that more of our
\nMoslems can go on the pilgrimage,\" he said recently.<\/p>\n
Since the minister's departure, many Moslem experts and laymen
\nhave been questioning the wisdom of imposing a quota on the
\nnumber of people permitted to perform one of their religious
\nduties.<\/p>\n
Many people believe that Mecca is big enough to accommodate
\nmillions of people for the annual ritual at the holy site of
\nHaram Mosque.<\/p>\n
\"The Saudi Arabian government doesn't need to impose a quota
\nat all,\" one Moslem, who has made the trip to Mecca, said.<\/p>\n
To its credit however, the Saudi kingdom, which sees itself as
\nthe custodian of the Moslems' holy places, has managed to provide
\nthe logistic arrangements for some two million Moslems, who flock
\nthere for the haj pilgrimage each year.<\/p>\n
Some restraints are necessary, and one of them is the
\nimposition of a quota on each country. Generally, the quota is
\nset at 0.1 percent of a country's Moslem population. In practice,
\nthe quota remains open to negotiation.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, meanwhile, the government and Moslem leaders are
\nconsidering ways of stemming the growth of the number of haj
\npilgrims.<\/p>\n
One alternative being considered is that of giving priority to
\n\"first-time pilgrims\" ahead of \"repeat pilgrims\", whose number is
\nswelling each year.<\/p>\n
So far, the government has refrained from implementing such a
\npolicy, but it is appealing to would-be \"repeat pilgrims\" to
\nreconsider their decision in order to make way for those who have
\nnever made the journey before.<\/p>\n
The government cannot prohibit people from going. \"That would
\namount to a violation of people's rights,\" Tarmizi said.<\/p>\n
Muhammadiyah, a mass Moslem organization, has also appealed to
\nthose of its members who have already made the pilgrimage to make
\nway for the first-timers.<\/p>\n
The government has also suggested that those who want to
\nperform the haj pilgrimage for a second time could join the
\numrah, a pilgrimage which is performed outside the haj season.<\/p>\n
Another way of coping with the problem would be to impose a
\nprogressively higher tax on second-timers, third-timers, and so
\non, a step which has been taken in Malaysia.<\/p>\n
Islam requires its followers to go make the haj pilgrimage \"at
\nleast once, if they can well afford it.\" For many Moslems, once
\nis not enough.<\/p>\n
It is rather too late to deal with this problem this year. But
\ncertainly something must be done next year.<\/p>\n
The government, in the mean time, should also improve the
\nservices it provides to the haj pilgrims, each of whom pays Rp 7
\nmillion ($3,200) for the trip.<\/p>\n
More and more pilgrims are becoming critical about the
\narrangements made by the government.<\/p>\n
No less a national figure than President Soeharto himself has
\nreminded the government's haj authority that its task will become
\nmore complicated each year. Last December he said that, not only
\nare more people going to Mecca, but many of them are better
\neducated and, therefore, more critical and probably more
\ndemanding.<\/p>\n
If in past years many old people went to Mecca in the hope of
\ndying there and \"going to heaven\" during the ritual, there are
\nnow more and more young people making the pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
\"This has influenced the level of independence of the jemaah
\n(pilgrims),\" Soeharto said. \"Serving these people will become
\nmore complicated\".<\/p>\n
One contribution to the current debate came from Neno
\nWarisman, the Moslem singer who has made the haj pilgrimage
\ntwice.<\/p>\n
\"I don't think setting quotas is necessary,\" Neno told The
\nJakarta Post. \"It is a matter of management, that's all.\"<\/p>\n
\"The government increases the fares every year, something
\nwhich would not be necessary if everything was managed better,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
She is also critical of the government of Saudi Arabia. \"The
\nKingdom, as Khadim Al Haramain (the Servant of Two Holy Sites --
\nthe cities of Mecca and Medina) -- should provide better
\nfacilities, too,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government should cut the red-tape, she said.
\n\"I don't know why, but there is a strong sense that registering
\nand going on the pilgrimage is very difficult,\" she said.<\/p>",
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