Limited quota may prevent 1,181 Muslim from Mecca
Limited quota may prevent 1,181 Muslim from Mecca
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Up to 1,181 of 1,198 Muslims who have registered to go on the haj
pilgrimage through a private travel firm in Yogyakarta may not
yet get to their destination -- Mecca, Saudi Arabia -- next year
due to the limited haj quota allocated to Indonesia.
The affected participants would all be those who have
registered under the "Haj Plus" scheme, which offers better
services to Indonesian pilgrims in Mecca.
Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Hussein Al-Munawar has
issued a decree under which the "Haj Plus" quota for Yogyakarta
is set at only 27 pilgrims.
At least 17 of these places would be granted to prospective
pilgrims from the Taruna Al-Qur'an Islamic boarding school, which
owns the private company in question, PT Gema Wahyu Pratama.
An executive of PT Gema Wahyu, M. Abdurrachman, said on Friday
that his company received applications from thousands of Muslims
who wanted to go on pilgrimage after they heard that the Saudi
Arabian government was not imposing a quota.
"That's why we registered 1,198 people since January,"
Abdurrachman told reporters after meeting with Yogyakarta
councillors.
The meeting was also attended by legislator Anwar Arifin from
the House of Representatives' religion commission.
Abdurrachman admitted that his company has been in a quandary
since it received a copy of the decree in July.
He explained that the 1,198 people had paid US$4,500 each to
the company to join the "Haj Plus" program, saying that some of
the money had been spent on buying tickets and paying for
accommodation.
"We want the central government to change the quota and allow
us to send as many as pilgrims as in 2004," he said.
Abdurrachman threatened to send dozens of prospective pilgrims
to Jakarta to stage a demonstration against the Ministry of
Religious Affairs over the limited quota allocated to Yogyakarta.
Meanwhile, legislator Anwar Arifin promised to discuss the
problem with Minister Said Agil.
"For the future, we need to review the regulations governing
the haj," he said, adding that the House of Representatives is
currently drafting a bill on the subject.
Last month, Said Agil said the government would ask the Saudi
Arabian government to increase its quota for next year's
pilgrimage, which is currently set at only 205,000 Indonesians.
"We will propose that the Saudi government allow between
10,000 and 30,000 Indonesian people currently on the waiting list
to take part in next year's haj pilgrimage," he said
The minister said many other provinces, including West Nusa
Tenggara, South Sulawesi, East Java, East Kalimantan, South
Sumatra and Lampung, were also seeking additional quotas.