Haj operation protected from rupiah plunge
Haj operation protected from rupiah plunge
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher has
announced the government exchanged Rp 1.6 trillion into American
dollars and Saudi reals in July to cover the expense of sending
approximately 203,000 Indonesians on this year's haj pilgrimage.
This means the haj operation has been spared the effects of
the plunge in the rupiah, Tarmizi was quoted by Antara as saying
yesterday.
Prospective pilgrims would therefore not be required to pay
any additional costs before their departure, he said, adding that
they would not even be asked to pay the increased departure tax
which was raised from Rp 250,000 to Rp 1 million yesterday.
The Rp 1.6 trillion fund amounted to $666 million in July when
the exchange rate was Rp 2,400. Today, it would buy just over
$160 million.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs, which coordinates the
massive operation to send Indonesians on the annual haj
pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, collected the Rp 8.8 million fee from
each participant during registration in September.
The fee, paid in full, came to around $3,600 then. Today, it
would be worth $880, not even enough to cover the return airfare.
Tarmizi, who was speaking in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Wednesday,
said the American dollars and Saudi reals were bought to pay for
the lease of the planes, lodging and meals, and medical treatment
for Indonesian pilgrims.
"Thanks God, we planned the haj operation well in advance. So,
although the rupiah has fallen, would-be pilgrims won't have to
pay anything extra," he said.
"When the currency upheaval began, we had already paid for the
lodgings and other needs for the pilgrimage," he said, stressing
that the government was handling the haj operation to serve the
public, not to make a profit.
The operation to send pilgrims to Mecca will begin in the
first week of March, and will last for about one month. After
Idul Adha (the Moslem Day of Sacrifice) on April 7 the government
will bring the pilgrims home in another one-month operation.
From this year the government is including Batam as a seventh
departure point for haj pilgrims, along with Jakarta, Medan,
Surakarta, Surabaya, Ujungpandang and Balikpapan.
Only one flight will leave from Batam, but if the operation
proves successful, the government would add more flights next
year for the benefit of pilgrims residing in Riau, he said.
In the past, Riau pilgrims flew from Medan.
Garuda Indonesia, appointed to handle the haj flights, is
leasing several wide-bodied planes for the operation.
Tarmizi declined to speculate on the pilgrimage fee for 1999,
saying that much will depend on the rupiah's exchange rate. (emb)