Acehnese pilgrims join displaced

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

While most returning haj pilgrims arriving back home will be warmly greeted by their families and relatives in the comfort of their homes, Acehnese pilgrims will find themselves among the refugees.

After losing their homes and families when the tsunami struck on Dec. 26 last year, 712 Acehnese haj pilgrims will return to live in shelters for people displaced in the disaster once they return to the province.

"Before (being moved to shelters), they will stay for several days in Banda Aceh haj dormitory," said spokesman of Aceh's haj organizing committee Juniazi Yahya while waiting for the arrival of the first batch of pilgrims on Thursday.

Outside the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport in Banda Aceh, many relatives of the pilgrims were seen waiting patiently.

Currently, some 350 beds have been prepared at Banda Aceh haj dormitory to temporarily accommodate the arriving pilgrims, who just completed their pilgrimage in Mecca.

The dormitory itself is still far from clean, with traces of mud and debris still visible, although its roof remains intact.

The government has started cleaning up the haj dormitory that would be used by the returning pilgrims.

"Most of the pilgrims come from Banda Aceh, Aceh Besar and Meulaboh," Juniazi said.

Indonesia sends about 220,000 haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia every year.

This year, some 5,600 Acehnese left for the pilgrimage, of which 10 batches of pilgrims left from Banda Aceh, while the remaining six batches left from Medan due to the disaster.

Out of the 324 arriving pilgrims in Banda Aceh on Thursday, 154 of them no longer have families or homes to go to after the giant tidal waves swept the region.

The arriving pilgrims, who came a few hours after the scheduled arrival time because of the heavy airport traffic in Jeddah, were greeted by Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni, who in his prepared speech asked the pilgrims to stay strong in facing their ordeal.

While waiting for the first batch of pilgrims to arrive, Garuda Indonesia's acting general manager in Banda Aceh, Agung Prabowo, explained that heavy airport traffic in King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah, as well as busy immigration activities there made it hard for the airline to get a permit to land.

"Many of the Acehnese pilgrims want to hurry back to Banda Aceh," Agung said.