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

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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.