Govt. cuts haj fee, extends registration
Govt. cuts haj fee, extends registration
JAKARTA (JP): The government, in line with the strengthening
rupiah against the U.S. dollar, has slashed the cost of joining
next year's haj pilgrimage to Mecca from Rp 27.37 million to Rp
21.85 million (US$2,731), Antara reported on Monday.
The government has also extended to Dec. 16 the registration
date, originally scheduled to close on Oct. 31, in order to allow
more people to take part in the pilgrimage now that the cost has
been cut.
Director General for Islam and Haj Affairs Mubarok told
reporters that the government would also refund the Rp 5.52
million difference in cost to the 42,547 people who have already
registered and paid the higher fee.
"They will receive the refund intact, not a single cent less,"
Mubarok was quoted as saying by Antara.
He said the provincial offices of the Ministry of Religious
Affairs would be making the refund payments to the registered
participants in their respective areas.
These refunds would be made as soon as possible, certainly
before their departure in March, he added.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs coordinates the massive
operation to send Indonesians on the haj pilgrimage to Saudi
Arabia, an obligation that all Moslems who have the physical and
financial means must satisfy once in their life.
However, with the plunge of the rupiah, the cost of next
year's pilgrimage had become prohibitively high for most
Indonesians. For this year's pilgrimage in March, for which
Indonesians paid Rp 8.8 million, the entire 200,000 spaces
allocated to Indonesia by the Saudi government were taken up.
Mubarok did not specify the rupiah exchange rate used to
calculate the cost of the haj pilgrimage, whose cost, including
round-trip airfare, lodging and food, is calculated in dollars.
The government had earlier said that the rupiah equivalent of
the pilgrimage cost came to $2,737, with the cost being
calculated on the basis of Rp 10,000 to the dollar. On Monday the
rupiah was trading below Rp 8,000 on the dollar.
Mubarok said that the government would incur the additional
rupiah cost should the currency drop again, but would be prepared
to give an even larger refund if the rupiah continued to
strengthen. (emb)