Govt increases quota for special haj

Govt increases quota for special haj

JAKARTA: Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Husin Al Munawar said on Friday that his office had added 5,000 to the special haj (ONH Plus) quota of 10,000 because of increasing demand.

He also said 84,451 people had registered to join the haj pilgrimage out of the country's quota of 205,000, and that the provinces of Riau, South Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Southeast Sulawesi and Gorontalo had already taken up all their quotas.

The uncompleted quota of some provinces will be auctioned off nationwide from Sept. 1 until Sept. 30, he said.

A special haj pilgrim should pay Rp 31.4 million (US$3,500) to any of the 197 haj bureaus holding government licenses.

Meanwhile, a regular pilgrim departing from Banda Aceh, Batam, and Medan pays $2,577, while from Jakarta, Solo and Surabaya they should pay $2,677, and from Balikpapan and Makasar the cost is $2,777.

Each regular pilgrim should also pay Rp 1 million for the region's operational cost for the service. --Antara

;JP;IWA; ANPAa..r.. Local artists to stage theater shows overseas JP/ /

Artists to stage theater shows overseas

SURABAYA, East Java: East Javanese artists will stage theater shows in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand this September.

Bambang Sujiono, an artist at Surabaya Art Council (DKS) said on Friday the theater would perform plays of two stories, one written by U.S. author Noam Chomsky and the other by Rusdi Zaki from Surabaya.

Both stories are about terrorism in the U.S. and are told from different perspectives, he said.

The tour, which would include 25 local artists, would collaborate with Malaysian, Singaporean and Thai artists in performing the drama, Bambang added.