First group of haj pilgrims home
First group of haj pilgrims home
JAKARTA (JP): A group of haj pilgrims from Bandung arrived at
Soekarno-Hatta airport on Saturday marking the start of the
month-long return of the approximately 205,000 Indonesians who
made the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
Secretary general of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Mubarok
welcomed the 453 returnees who alighted from their on-time Garuda
Airways GA7201 aircraft.
The haj pilgrims were then taken to their hometown by air-
conditioned tourist buses, without having to stay in the haj
dormitory in Pondok Gede, East Jakarta as returning pilgrims
normally have to do.
Three other batches touched down respectively in Surakarta,
Central Java, Makassar, South Sulawesi and Medan, North Sumatra
on Saturday.
These were followed on Sunday by the arrival of groups in the
Aceh capital of Banda Aceh, Surabaya in East Java and Balikpapan
in East Kalimantan, while the first haj pilgrims destined for
Batam will arrive on Monday.
The last Indonesian haj pilgrims to leave Saudi Arabia are
expected to depart on April 5.
With an increase of 24,000 in the number of pilgrims from
Indonesia compared to last year, the government has designated
seven airports this year as embarkation and arrival points. These
are Adisumarmo airport in Surakarta, Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta,
Juanda in Surabaya, Hasanuddin in Makassar, Polonia in Medan,
Sepinggan in Balikpapan and Sultan Iskandar Muda in Banda Aceh.
Four Indonesians were among the 35 pilgrims killed in a
stampede during the "Stoning of Satan" ritual on Monday. The
number of Indonesians who died in this year's pilgrimage reached
104 following the incident.
Another tragedy is awaiting many of the Indonesian pilgrims on
their arrival home, particularly the 296 Madurese migrants who
were in Saudi Arabia when their homes in the Central Kalimantan
regency of Sampit were torched.
The Madurese pilgrims are now to return to their home island
of Madure in East Java, rather than proceed to the riot-torn town
of Sampit.
They are expected to land at Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan
and Adisumarmo airport in Surakarta either on Thursday or Friday
before heading for Surabaya for a stopover en route to Madura.
Those arriving in Surakarta will be transported to Surabaya by
bus, while those flying into Balikpapan will be taken to the East
Java capital by ship.
"We are ready to welcome them and exempt them from
accommodation fees during their stay in the haj dormitory here,
even if there are more of them than expected," Syamsuddin, the
deputy head of haj affairs at East Java's regional office of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Antara.
He said the government would cover the transportation and
accommodation expenses of the displaced Madurese pilgrims. (amd)