City to send 22,944 people on haj pilgrimage

City to send 22,944 people on haj pilgrimage

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta will send 22,944 haj pilgrims this
season, 1,609 of whom are from last year's waiting list, an
official says.

The city secretary's assistant for social welfare,
Soenarjudardji, said yesterday that the people will leave the
country in 51 flight groups.

Central Jakarta will send 5,725 people, North Jakarta 1,952
people, East Jakarta 5,470 people, and West and South Jakarta
will send 2,816 and 6,981 pilgrims respectively, he said.

"The first group will fly on Mar. 23. There will be no one on
the waiting list this year. All pilgrims will fly to Mecca,"
Soenarjudardji said after a hearing with the city council's
Commission E for social welfare.

He said a nationwide on-line computer system is being used to
register those who want to join the haj pilgrimage this year.
All reports from the provinces will be automatically sent to the
Ministry of Religious Affairs through the computer network.

This year Indonesia will send 194,000 pilgrims, just under the
quota of 195,000.

Last year Indonesia was supposed to send 195,000 pilgrims, the
first time it was subjected to a quota restriction, but the
number of people registering was 196,854. The result was that a
large number of people had to be put on a waiting list.

The computerized system will automatically close the
registration if the number of people exceeds the quota.

Prevention

Last year, the number of people who registered was larger than
the quota and chaos ensued as some people tried to jump the queue
with help from city officials.

"I hope last year's chaos will not happen again,"
Soenarjudardhi said, adding that city officials who plan to make
money by including unregistered people in the pilgrimage are
risking their jobs.

Soenarjudardji said that the passports and other required
documents for the 22,944 people are already with the Saudi Arabia
embassy to get the necessary visas.

In an effort to deal with expected traffic problems around the
haj dormitory in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, the administration
has planned to transport 60 percent of the pilgrims there by bus
from their respective mayoralties.

"The families will not see them off at the dormitory," he
said.

There is no information on how many buses will be deployed in
the haj pilgrimage season. (yns)