Dissecting the Alleged Hajj Cartel

Vice Minister of Hajj and Umrah of the Republic of Indonesia, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, revealed that he received various criticisms from a number of community organisations after using the term ‘hajj cartel’ at the Al Jam’iyatul Washliyah Congress on 8 July 2026. Dahnil stressed that the term was not aimed at any specific group, but rather as a criticism of alleged practices that damage the governance of hajj pilgrimage operations. He disclosed indications of irregularities, including fraudulent practices in the management of DAM and badal hajj, with transaction values said to reach billions of rupiah. According to him, the establishment of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah is directed towards realising a clean, transparent, and accountable governance system for hajj operations, as well as ensuring services to pilgrims are free from rent-seeking practices, corruption, and various forms of irregularities that could potentially harm the public. The organisation of the hajj pilgrimage is one of the largest public undertakings in Indonesia, with an annual fund turnover reaching tens of trillions of rupiah. The long waiting list and the size of this religious market niche create specific vulnerabilities from a business law and consumer protection perspective. Recently, the term ‘Hajj Cartel’ has come to the fore following findings by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the Hajj Organising Agency (BPH) regarding systematic, structured, and massive practices that exploit pilgrims for the economic gain of a few individuals. The recent uncovering of a case involving the misappropriation of DAM management funds and the manipulation of a fictitious badal hajj programme worth billions of rupiah serves as a loud alarm. This issue is no longer merely a matter of moral violations or the jurisprudence of worship procedures, but has shifted into an economic crime phenomenon that fulfils the elements of Unlawful Acts, systematic fraud, and indications of unfair business competition. Legally, the term ‘cartel’ is regulated under Law Number 5 of 1999 concerning the Prohibition of Monopolistic Practices and Unfair Business Competition, specifically in Article 11. A cartel is defined as an agreement between business actors and their competitor business actors, intended to influence prices by regulating the production and/or marketing of a good and/or service. Within the hajj operations ecosystem, this anomaly can be dissected into several clusters of modus operandi: First, the Core Component Services Cartel (Accommodation & Transport), namely the alleged existence of tacit collusion between individual brokers, guidance groups (KBIHU), or specific agencies with facility providers in Saudi Arabia (such as hotels, Masyair transportation, and catering) to monopolise access, inflate prices (price fixing), or allocate quotas unfairly. Second, the Non-Facility Cartel (Illegal Badal Hajj & DAM Syndicate), where a concrete case found involves the unilateral setting of tariffs by an illegal syndicate network charging pilgrims for badal hajj (for example, Rp10 million per person, even though the local dakhili hajj cost is far above that) and the unilateral deduction of DAM funds outside the official Adahi institution. This is categorised as organised extortion and massive fraud.