Parliament urges government to prepare emergency scenario for hajj pilgrimage

Jakarta – A member of Indonesia’s Parliament (DPR) Commission VIII, Selly Andriany Gantina, has urged the government to prepare emergency contingency scenarios regarding hajj financing and logistics amid escalating Middle East conflict.

“The government must prepare various options starting now, ranging from diplomatic coordination and airline readiness to emergency financing schemes, to ensure the certainty and safety of pilgrims remain guaranteed,” said Selly in Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to her, such emergency scenarios are critically important to address the potential for pilgrims to remain longer in Saudi Arabia due to Middle East conflict.

Indonesia annually deploys approximately 210,000 hajj pilgrims, with various service contracts that are mostly valid only until the end of the hajj season.

According to Selly, if an extraordinary situation arises causing pilgrims to be stranded outside normal operations, significant questions would arise regarding financing for accommodation, meals and additional transportation.

In such circumstances, she stated, the entire burden cannot simply be placed on funds managed by the Hajj Financial Fund Management Agency (BPKH). Hajj funds must maintain their sustainability.

“We must not allow all financial resources to be used to address a short-term situation, only to find insufficient funds available the following year to deploy pilgrims,” she said.

Additionally, she highlighted the potential obstacles in alternative return scenarios if main flight routes are disrupted. Currently, Indonesian hajj flights are primarily served by two major airlines: Garuda Indonesia and Saudi Arabian Airlines.

If flight routes change, for example through longer routes such as African regions, Selly believes operational costs would certainly increase significantly. Furthermore, foreign airlines may not be willing to reschedule with longer routes without additional cost consequences.

In line with this, Selly stated that Commission VIII of the DPR would continue to exercise its oversight function to ensure that the state fully protects Indonesian pilgrims.

“The hajj and umrah pilgrimage are not merely spiritual journeys, but also concern cross-border public service management. Therefore, the state’s preparedness in facing various crisis scenarios is part of our constitutional responsibility to pilgrims,” she said.