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)