KL haj system reflects poorly on RI
Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia should learn from Malaysia in its management of the haj pilgrimage through the establishment of an autonomous body accountable to the President and the House of Representatives to reduce costs and improve services.
Because of its efficient and accountable operation, Malaysia's Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) or Pilgrims Fund Board can offer much less expensive haj trips, compared to Indonesia, and better services for Malaysian pilgrims both at home and in the Holy Land.
During this past haj season, for instance, Malaysian pilgrims paid between RM 8,973 (equivalent to approximately Rp 21.5 million, or US$2,300) for adults and just RM 15 for children under two.
By comparison, Indonesia charged its people Rp 26.2 million (approximately $2,860) per pilgrim -- a much larger amount for a country where most people earn less than two dollars a day.
GDP per capita in Indonesia is $2,300, and in Malaysia it is $9,000, meaning that a haj trip is equivalent to well over a year's worth of income for the average Indonesian and just a few months' income for the average Malaysian.
Isnaini bin Ismail, a senior staff member at LTH said the board did not impose any other fees outside the official rates.
"That's all. The inexpensive price covers everything, including pre-departure haj training, medical check-ups and services, round-trip air tickets, land transportation in Saudi Arabia and housing rent during the haj ritual in Medina, Mecca and Arafa, as well as food and medical services in the Holy Land," he told The Jakarta Post by telephone here on Tuesday.
To allow low-income Malaysians to realize their dream of visiting the Holy Land, the LTH only asks for an initial payment of RM 1,300 during registration and then the rest can be paid in installments over a year.
Asked about services provided for pilgrims, Isnaini said: "our main tasks are to provide passports for the pilgrimage, manage pilgrimage affairs, give health services and courses on performing the pilgrimage, provide transportation to and from the Holy Land, protection, supervision, welfare and security for all pilgrims."
LTH has a welfare and medical team that provides services to pilgrims. The team also greets pilgrims at King Abdul Aziz airport upon their arrival and prior to their departure back home. They also offer a number of facilities and services in Mecca and Medina to make the trip as comfortable and enjoyable as possible in addition to coordinating with Saudi Arabian officials.
Isnaini said that the LTH had been open and responsive about complaints in the case of poor services, and pilgrims who did not receive services they were supposed to were entitled to refunds.
Isnaini conceded that the LTH had still managed to book a profit from the annual event -- about 4 percent of the total amount managed -- and was required to report its operation to Prime Minister and to the Parliament.
As a result of its profitable operation, LTH has amassed a huge sum of money from the 40-year management of pilgrimage. Some of the money is put into a trust fund to improve haj services, other money has been invested in properties and plantations.
"LTH has annually unveiled its accountability to the government and the Parliament and its investment policy has been required to gain approval from the government," he said.
In many ways, Indonesia's new haj savings program, which will come into force for next year's pilgrimage, is quite similar to the Malaysian way of managing haj funds, but the system is totally different.
Under Indonesia's new system, prospective pilgrims are required to deposit Rp 20 million one year before their departure. Worse still, the money must be deposited into an account belonging to the Minister of Religious Affairs. However, it has never been made clear as to where the interest money will go.
In fact, the government has never been transparent in the management of haj money and so far, it has just one haj hospital and a number of haj dormitories and embarkation facilities in several provinces.
In the recent pilgrimage season, for example, the government collected approximately Rp 5.3 trillion from 205,000 people who performed the pilgrimage, most of collected and put into an account a year before it was used, meaning there could have been hundreds of billions of rupiah earned in interest. However, to this point, the accountability of the money has never been explained to the public.
The House of Representatives, which sent a 15-member delegation to supervise the pilgrimage management in December 2004 and January 2005, intimated that they smelled corruption.
Nevertheless, the House has promised to give a priority to the planned review of Law No.17/1999 on haj pilgrimage, especially to end the government's monopoly on the management of haj pilgrims, which is blamed for rampant corruption and poor services.