New haj registration disfavors rural folks

New haj registration disfavors rural folks

JAKARTA (JP): The government's new computerized haj
registration system has one major flaw -- it discriminates
against the rural people.

This was disclosed during a House of Representatives hearing
with officials of the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Wednesday.

Some House representatives said that many of their
constituents in the rural areas were denied admission to take
part in next year's haj pilgrimage because their areas were not
"on-line" with the computerized registration system.

The government introduced the new system for the first time
this year in the hope of preventing the chaos and overbooking
that has characterized registrations in previous years.

Under the new system, applicants are registered on a first-
come-first-serve basis.

They are required to register and pay the full fees at the
local branches of one of the seven government-owned banks
appointed to handle the registration. The seven are Bank Rakyat
Indonesia, Bank BNI 1946, Bapindo, Bank Tabungan Negara, Bank
Ekspor-Impor Indonesia, Bank Bumi Daya and Bank Dagang Negara.

But many bank branches in remote rural areas are not connected
with the computer data base of the Ministry of Religious Affairs,
which coordinates the pilgrim's departures.

According to House members, many applications were rejected
because they arrived late.

The government closed the registration for next year's
pilgrimage in September, when the number of applications reached
195,000, the quota set by the Saudi government for Indonesian
pilgrims.

Director General for Islamic and Haj Affairs Amidhan, who
represented Minister of Religion Affairs Tarmizi Taher at the
hearing, acknowledged the weakness in the system. "Many banks in
rural areas still use the manual system," he added.

He explained that the system, which has eliminated overbooking
problems of the past, could still be improved by allocating
quotas to each province as one possibility.

"The idea must be further discussed with the minister," he
said. Tarmizi is scheduled to have a hearing with the commission
early next month.

Amidhan explained that the quota for the 1996 pilgrimage has
already been met and includes the 40,720 places given to
applicants who were denied admission this year because of
overbooking.

The government, which coordinates the travel arrangements for
all pilgrims from Indonesia, has set the fee for 1996 at Rp 7.29
million (US$3,230), three percent higher than the fee set for
1995. (01)