Govt vows smooth haj operation
Govt vows smooth haj operation
JAKARTA (JP): The government scrambled yesterday to assure haj
pilgrims that this year's operation would proceed smoothly,
despite the glitches of the past few days.
Director General of Air Transportation Zainuddin Sikado
promised yesterday to arrange extra flights to transport all
194,707 haj pilgrims, while Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi
Taher promised that all pilgrims would receive their visas by
next week.
Problems with documentation and visas have thrown off flight
schedules. Those who were supposed to leave early were left
stranded on the ground, while pilgrims on later flights -- but
with proper documents -- were made to go on short notice.
Other flights were canceled.
Sikado said he will fly to Jeddah on April 8 to negotiate with
officials there the possibility of sending extra flights from
Indonesia. As of Monday, of all the flights to Saudi Arabia,
1,358 seats were left vacant, he added.
Sources have told The Jakarta Post that the number of empty
seats was actually higher.
With regards to documentation, Tarmizi Taher said the Saudi
Arabian embassy has issued 135,000 visas and will issue 25,000
more tomorrow. The embassy will issue the remaining 35,000 visas
by next week, he said.
Tarmizi said the embassy had planned to have all the visas
processed before the Ramadhan fasting month in January, but
failed to do so because it was then overwhelmed by the visa
applications for 50,000 Indonesians going on umrah, the minor
pilgrimage.
The minister denied that this year's operation has already
become chaotic. "There are problems, but the ministry can handle
it," he told reporters. "Remember, sending out 195,000 people is
not a minor operation. It's impossible not to make a single
mistake."
He said the Saudi Arabian embassy has temporarily hired 50
people, including 30 Indonesians, to help expedite the visa
process.
Garuda
The operation of flying out haj pilgrims started on Saturday
and will last until April 26. The operation to bring the pilgrims
home will run from May 2 to May 30.
"We don't know yet how many extra flights will be prepared.
Last year, there were 20 extra flight services to transport some
6,000 pilgrims whose departures were delayed," Sikado said.
The extra flights to Saudi Arabia this year must be completed
before midnight on April 26, when the King Abdul Aziz airport in
Jeddah will close temporarily.
According to official data, there were 1,067 open seats during
the 1994 haj pilgrimage season which was joined by 192,000
Moslems.
For this year's haj season, the country's flag carrier Garuda
Indonesia has arranged 23 jets and 453 flights to serve the
pilgrims.
Meanwhile, more problems were reported yesterday in the five
haj embarkation points of Ujungpandang, Surabaya, Medan,
Balikpapan and Jakarta.
In Ujungpandang, for instance, a total of 172 pilgrims failed
to leave as scheduled on Saturday. As of yesterday, they were
still waiting for their visas, Antara reported.
In Balikpapan, some 400 pilgrims failed to go as scheduled
yesterday, also because they lacked visas.
Officials at the five haj embarkation points tried to cope by
rearranging the scheduled flights, though not always
successfully.
"This year's operation is worse than last year's," said Asli
Amin, a local haj operation official.
He cited as an example the sixth flight scheduled for
yesterday morning, which failed to take off because only 60
percent of the scheduled passengers had visas.
The Ministry of Transportation has stipulated that all Garuda
aircraft on haj flights must have at least 70 percent of their
seats filled before departing. (icn/31/swe)