Ensuring Hajj Quality, DPR Prepares to Deploy 96 Oversight Teams

The DPR plans to deploy the Hajj Oversight Team for 2026 to ensure the quality of this year’s Hajj pilgrimage organisation is maintained. This year’s DPR RI Hajj Oversight Team comprises 96 personnel, consisting of 55 DPR RI members and 41 support team members. The team will depart in two waves. Chair of DPR RI Commission VIII, Marwan Dasopang, stated that the large number of support staff is not without reason. They will be attached to the oversight team members to document all findings and field conditions in detail during the monitoring process. “In the Hajj Oversight Team’s monitoring, it is impossible for all findings to be noted by members themselves. Therefore, the support team will be attached to ensure all issues, services, and potential problems are well recorded,” he said during the DPR RI Hajj Oversight Team Meeting at the Senayan Parliamentary Complex, Jakarta, on Wednesday (13/05). He added that the DPR Hajj Oversight Team will work comprehensively and rigorously in overseeing this year’s Hajj pilgrimage. Strict oversight will be conducted from the pilgrims’ departure process in Indonesia to the peak of the rituals in Arafah, Muzdalifah, and Mina. In opening the meeting, he emphasised that DPR oversight must be based on field findings that will serve as material for national evaluation of the 2026 Hajj implementation. “What concerns us is not only in Makkah and Madinah, but from the point when pilgrims depart from here. Even when pilgrims land in Madinah, that becomes part of our oversight notes,” said Marwan Dasopang. Focus on monitoring accommodation, catering, health, and transportation. Marwan explained that the oversight team’s monitoring will focus on several vital sectors of pilgrim services, from hotel accommodation, food, health services, to transportation. For the accommodation sector, the DPR Hajj Oversight Team will ensure that pilgrims’ hotels comply with the DPR RI Hajj Working Committee’s decision, namely a maximum distance of 4.5 kilometres from the worship centre. However, the DPR Hajj Oversight Team has found hotels suspected of violating this decision, with distances reaching around 13 kilometres from the Masjidil Haram. “This will be the object of our review. There are hotels that exceed the Working Committee’s decision and that must be checked directly,” he asserted. Spotlight is also directed at the Jabal Ka’bah area, which is the drop-off point for pilgrims from buses. That location is considered quite challenging for elderly pilgrims as they must walk about 1.5 kilometres to the Masjidil Haram with uphill road conditions. In the meeting, oversight team members also reminded that around 21,000 elderly pilgrims could be affected by this condition, especially when the Shalawat bus operations are halted ahead of the Hajj peak.