Saudi Arabia asked to open new consulates<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has suggested that Saudi Arabia open
\nconsulate general offices in several regions to ease the
\nembassy's burden of processing documents for the annual haj.<\/p>\n
Ahmad Gozali, the director general of Islamic and haj affairs
\nof the Ministry of Religious Affairs, pointed out that most of
\nthe problems that occurred during the sending of the hundreds of
\nthousands of pilgrims to Mecca were caused by a lack of visas.<\/p>\n
In order to prevent such problems from happening again, Saudi
\nArabia could open consulates in Indonesia's five haj embarkation
\npoints: Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi, Medan in North Sumatra,
\nSurabaya in East Java, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The suggestion will be conveyed in a meeting between the
\nministry's senior officials with Saudi Arabian Ambassador
\nAbdullah Abdul Rahman Alim tomorrow.<\/p>\n
The meeting will cover, among other things, the question of
\nvisa processing. \"The visas are too great a burden for the
\nembassy,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that more Indonesians go on pilgrimage every
\nyear. In 1993, 123,000 Moslems went to the Holy Land, followed in
\n1994 by 158,533 people and 196,000 last year. This year, a total
\nof 194,000 Moslems are scheduled to go.<\/p>\n
The number of people going on umrah, a minor pilgrimage which
\ncan be performed at other times of the year, will also steadily
\nincrease, Ahmad said. This year alone, the Saudi Arabian embassy
\nprocessed more than 50,000 visas for this minor pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
The load could be eased by delegating the visa processing to
\nconsulate general offices, Ahmad said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, reports about chaos in the departures of the
\nprospective pilgrims continued to surface yesterday. The ministry
\nconfirmed that out of the 42 flights leaving from the five
\nembarkation points, 1,000 seats were left vacant.<\/p>\n
Officials at the airports tried to deal with the problem by
\nscrambling the schedule of flights. Those who are supposed to
\nleave earlier but don't have visas yet were replaced by
\nprospective pilgrims from later flights who already have all of
\nthe necessary documents.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of would-be pilgrims in Balikpapan, including those
\nwith complete documents, were affected by the changes.<\/p>\n
Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher refused to comment
\nabout the chaotic operation. \"I'm not the minister of haj. I'm
\nthe minister of religious affairs. Go and ask the director
\ngeneral,\" he told reporters yesterday.(01)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/saudi-arabia-asked-to-open-new-consulates-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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