Indonesia seeks higher haj quota

Indonesia seeks higher haj quota

JAKARTA (JP): The government plans to seek a higher haj quota
from Saudi Arabia with the number of Indonesian Moslems applying
for this year's holy pilgrimage soaring unexpectedly to nearly
240,000.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher told reporters
yesterday after meeting with President Soeharto at his Jl.
Cendana residence that he plans to visit Saudi Arabia on Feb. 17
and Feb. 18 to convey the request.

Indonesia has been allocated a quota of 192,000 people, which
is higher than the 165,000 people who made the pilgrimage last
year. The government had earlier expected between 180,000 and
190,000 pilgrims this year.

By the registration's closing date on Jan. 31, the government
had received nearly 240,000 applications, the minister said.

This was totally unanticipated, he said, explaining that the
government had not expected the size of the pilgrim exodus to
reach that level until the last years of this decade.

Tarmizi said up to 200,000 people have already paid the Rp
7.07 million ($3.330) each pilgrim has to spend for the trip to
the Moslem holy lands in Saudi Arabia.

The other 40,000 still have until Feb. 15 to pay.

He said those who have not paid in full will temporarily be
put on a "waiting list" pending the outcome of his mission to
Riyadh later this month.

"President Soeharto asked me to seek for the maximum possible
quota allocation," the minister said, noting however that Brunei,
Malaysia, Iran, Kuwait and Oman have also exceeded their quotas.

The haj season is not due to begin until May, but given the
size of the Indonesian haj group, the operation to transport the
pilgrims will begin towards the end of March.

The President viewed the explosion in the number of applicants
for the haj pilgrimage this year as reflecting both the rising
prosperity of the Indonesian Moslems and also their increasing
religious consciousness.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs coordinates the arrangements
for the pilgrimage, from transportation, accommodations and food,
in a mammoth logistics operation once likened to the U.S.-led
international military operation against Iraq during the 1991
Gulf War.

Soeharto asked Tarmizi to coordinate the preparations as well
as possible with the other agencies involved, including with the
host government Saudi Arabia.

Tarmizi said the government has to provide additional planes
and arrange for greater accommodations for the additional
pilgrims.

Indonesia exceeded its allocated haj quota for the first time
last year, causing chaos amid competition between pilgrims who
travel under the government arrangements and some 6,000
Indonesians who made their own arrangements through private
travel agencies. (29)