Half of pilgrims have returned

Half of pilgrims have returned

JAKARTA (JP): Over 50 percent of 165,000 Indonesian pilgrims
have returned home from Mecca aboard 210 flights, the Ministry of
Religious Affairs said yesterday.

Today, 10 flights of wide-bodied planes are expected to land
in Jakarta, Surabaya and Medan, North Sumatra, to bring in
another 4800 pilgrims from Jakarta, West Java, Jambi, South
Sumatra, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and Aceh. Today no
haj flights are scheduled for Ujungpandang.

All Indonesian pilgrims will be eventually flown in aboard
more than 250 flights. The last plane is due in on June 24.

The Ministry also reported that a total of 578 Indonesian
pilgrims had died in Saudi Arabia during the course of this
year's pilgrimage. This number includes seven pilgrims who were
trampled to death in a stampede in Mina, near Mecca, which
claimed the lives of hundreds of people.

Last year, a total of 394 of 123,000 Indonesian pilgrims died,
mainly because of disease.

Indonesia's Consulate General in Saudi Arabia reported that
Saudi government will issue a documentary film on this year's haj
pilgrimage. The report does not mention any details about Mina
stampede.

To members of House of Representatives (DPR) from Commission
IX last week, Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher
explained this year's pilgrimage. Commission IX deals with
education and religious affairs.

He indicated that one private haj organizing company had
violated a government rule by bypassing the ministry in handling
their own pilgrims.

"It has undermined the government and tried to disrupt the
Indonesian haj management," Tarmizi told members of the
Commission.

Disobedient

Following Tarmizi's statements concerning one disobedient
company dealing with haj, Gozali Katianda, chairman of the
association of private minor pilgrimage and pilgrimage organizers
(AMPUH), met with Director General for Moslems and Haj Affairs
Amidhan to discuss the matter.

The ministry released a statement over the weekend saying
that the suspected company is PT Tiga Utama, which is also an
AMPUH member. Tarmizi is expected to summon the company today.

Tarmizi said the first trick the company used was telephoning
the Indonesian embassy at Riyadh, saying that those going to
Mecca with regular passports would be netted and detained by
Saudi government.

"Sending false messages is a common strategy," Tarmizi said.
"Their motives could either have been politics or money. It might
have been money because we have tried to be tougher on those who
go on haj with regular passports."

The Indonesian government had issued a regulation that those
who went on haj pilgrimage had to use special passports with
brown covers.

The ministry said although the number of this year's pilgrims
organized by the government increased 30 percent over last year's
number, those organized by private companies declined from over
5,000 to some 4,500 pilgrims.

"But that's a formal number. The exact number is much higher
because Tiga Utama itself has escorted some 2,500 pilgrims," said
an official at the ministry.

When The Jakarta Post tried to reach Andi Abdul Latief, head
of PT Tiga Utama, his subordinate said he was still in Saudi
Arabia. None of the other executives were available for comment.
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