First group of haj pilgrims arrive home safely

JAKARTA (JP): The first batch of Indonesia's 202,000 haj pilgrims touched downed safely yesterday, with the initial group led by Minister of Religious Affairs Quraish Shihab landing at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, East Jakarta, early in the morning.

The 5:40 a.m. landing with 480 pilgrims on board was followed by the arrival of haj pilgrims in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and Medan in North Sumatra.

A Garuda Indonesia MD-11 carrying 404 pilgrims landed at Sepinggan Airport in Balikpapan, while another airplane took 478 pilgrims home to Medan.

"Praise Allah that Indonesian haj pilgrims have completed their haj pilgrimage, although some unwanted occurrences did happen," Quraish told journalists upon arrival here.

Quraish was referring to Thursday's stampede in Mina, near the city of Mecca, where at least 118 -- including two Indonesians -- were killed.

According to the minister, another Indonesian may have died in the stampede. However, his identity is still being checked.

"There's no clear identity. But what's clear is that he wasn't part of (this year's) pilgrimage contingent. Most likely he's probably someone who overstayed, but Indonesian officials are looking into the matter," he said.

Except for the Mina incident, Quraish expressed satisfaction at this year's pilgrimage, saying it was "quite enough".

The pilgrims arriving in Jakarta were greeted by several senior officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Garuda Indonesia's president director, Soepandi, and Jakarta deputy governor of people's welfare, Djaelani, were also on hand to greet the first arrivals here.

After disembarking from a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 747, the pilgrims were transferred by bus to the haj dormitory in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta, where their families and relatives were waiting.

Shabby

Asked to comment on his observations while leading the pilgrimage, Quraish expressed concern at the accommodation for Indonesian pilgrims, especially in the city of Mecca.

He said 15 percent of the dormitories for Indonesian haj pilgrims in Mecca were "shabby and messy".

"I am particularly still not satisfied with the dormitory. We can still improve on this," he said as quoted by Antara.

"The Saudi government has well prepared the dormitories. But we still need to reconsider many other aspects, including the budget allocation for the dormitory."

Quraish said Indonesian haj pilgrims could obtain better accommodation with a bigger budget allocation, or haj organizers could find dormitories with better facilities further out of town.

"Then, a special transportation vehicle could be provided to take haj pilgrims to Masjidil Haram," he suggested.

Twenty-six Garuda Indonesia airplanes are scheduled to make some 450 flights to bring the pilgrims home from Saudi Arabia.

Garuda Indonesia president director Soepandi said the national flag carrier would keep striving to improve its services for pilgrims.

However, he said delays were sometimes unavoidable given the heavy congestion at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Jeddah.

He added that Indonesia, having the biggest contingent of pilgrims, had already been allotted two of the 12 gates at the airport. (aan)