First-time pilgrims to get 'priority seating'

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For the next haj season, due to fall at the beginning of 2005, the government will allocate places primarily for first-time pilgrims to cut down on the number of people who wish to go to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Those who have already gone on a haj to the Holy Land and have signed up again will be placed on a waiting list, Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni said on Wednesday.

"We will accommodate those who want to repeat the pilgrimage only if there is space left over from the quota, after all first- timers have been given places," Maftuh said after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Saudi Arabian government has long provided a flat quota for members of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), accommodating 10 percent of the Muslim population from each nation.

During the last haj season early this year, 205,000 Indonesians performed the pilgrimage. The holy ritual ended with a mass stampede, in which the government confirmed that 57 Indonesian pilgrims were killed.

The stampede sparked controversy over poor management of the pilgrimage on the government's part, prompting a demand from the House of Representatives for the establishment of an independent body to put an end to decades of the government's monopolizing the lucrative haj business.

The quota for Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country at 220 million, is hardly able to accommodate the demand as seen in the long waiting list.

During the administration of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the government considered a regulation to limit the haj pilgrimage to once every five years for each Muslim.

The next haj season peaks in mid-January, with the first group of pilgrims slated to depart on Dec. 19.

Maftuh also said that, starting with the next haj, the ministry would reduce the number of officials arranging the pilgrimage and would not allow state guests from various institutions in the country to make the trip for free.

"From the next season on, the religious affairs minister and other high-ranking ministerial officials will not join the pilgrimage. We will also slash the number of officials to about 200," Maftuh said.

Previously, 3,000 state officials and field officials were accommodated in the pilgrimage.

"The efficiency measure will enable us to save enough funds so that we can provide meals for all pilgrims for nine days there," the minister said.

During the meeting, Susilo also agreed to attend and deliver a speech during the Oct. 30 commemoration of Nuzulul Qur'an, or Koranic Revelation, at the Istiqlal Grand Mosque, Central Jakarta.