Four cabinet ministers to go on haj pilgrimage

Four cabinet ministers to go on haj pilgrimage

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Four cabinet ministers will depart for Mecca in Saudi Arabia on
Saturday to perform the haj pilgrimage with other Muslims from
all over the globe.

The four ministers are Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil
Hussein Al Munawar, Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi, Minister of
Forestry Mohammad Prakosa and Minister of Justice and Human
Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

Said Agil will take the role of Indonesian amirul haj (chief
of haj pilgrims).

The religious ministry's official website for haj management
www.informasihaji.com reported that 169,028 of 205,000
Indonesians who registered as haj pilgrims this year, have
arrived in Saudi for the pilgrimage.

Of the pilgrims, 56 have died and been buried in separate
locations in Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah. The latest deaths were
Suhud bin Tardjo, 92, and Ramsi bin Julung, 77, who both died on
Thursday.

There are currently 64 Indonesians receiving medical treatment
at a clinic for Indonesian pilgrims in Mecca.

Antara news agency reported that many Indonesians on the haj
pilgrimage were suffering from coughs and influenza, although
their illness was apparently manageable.

Their condition has been blamed on the contrast between the
climates of Medina and Mecca. In Medina the temperature was
reportedly between 8 and 15 degrees Celsius, while in Mecca it
was around 24 degrees Celsius.

The religious minister recently came under fire following the
failure of some 30,000 people to perform their pilgrimages,
although they had already paid for their travel.

A coalition of eight non-governmental organizations (NGOs) had
reported the minister to the police for public lies. They also
called for an audit into the wealth of the minister and officials
at the ministry.

In response to the move, Said Agil filed a libel lawsuit
against the NGOs.

Indonesia was requesting 30,000 additional places for pilgrims
from the Saudi government when the ministry announced that extra
places had become available.

Despite the limited number of places, a number of religious
affairs offices in some regions, however, reported that not all
flights to Saudi Arabia were fully booked.

Burhanuddin, an official with the religious affairs agency in
Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, revealed on Wednesday seven
flights were fully booked, while there were still seats left on
15 other flights.

For each flight, between one to six seats were not booked. The
total number of available seats is 24, he said.

The pilgrimage ends with the Islamic Day of Sacrifice on Feb.
1.