Parliament Warns Flight Delays Could Forfeit Hotels in Madinah
The Chair of DPR Commission VIII, Marwan Dasopang, has warned that delays in flights for Indonesian Hajj pilgrims could potentially forfeit hotel rentals in Madinah, Saudi Arabia, during the 2026 Hajj implementation.
According to him, the accommodation rental system in the Madinah area imposes very strict waiting time limits (blocking time) for each renting country.
To prevent the worst-case risks, Marwan urged the government to take a firm stance on the discipline of flight schedules for airlines transporting pilgrims.
“Because in Madinah, we rent hotels on a blocking time basis. If we’re even one hour late, when we arrive there, there won’t be any hotels left; other countries will have taken them,” said Marwan during a CNN Indonesia TV broadcast on Monday (20/4) evening.
“This is what we need to keep reminding the Minister of Religious Affairs about: they must be strict with the aviation parties. If there are many delays, the problems in Madinah will be extraordinary,” he added.
Marwan welcomed the government’s breakthrough in overhauling the Hajj quota distribution system.
The new scheme, which now calculates proportions directly based on the number of registrants, is seen as effective in addressing the extreme disparities in waiting times between provinces that occurred in the past.
“In the past, under the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the departure quotas were based on Muslim community representation. Some waited 16 years, some 19 years, but others 48 years. Now, the proportion is changed to be based on the number of waiting pilgrims divided accordingly. In the end, it has been equalised to an average of 26 years across Indonesia,” he stated.
Given the complexity of managing millions of Muslims in limited spaces, Commission VIII of the DPR has also mapped out operational vulnerability gaps in the field.
The list of problem inventories and emergency scenarios has been fully submitted to the relevant ministries to serve as a reference for handling by officials.
“It’s not just what happened last year; we’ve also noted potential future occurrences and handed them over to the ministries. So that they have one contingency plan and a second emergency scenario. We even specify that if pilgrims cannot move from the elevated walkway above, ladders for descent must be prepared,” said Marwan.
The 2026 Hajj pilgrims are scheduled to begin entering Hajj dormitories today, Tuesday (21/4). The following day, the first wave of pilgrims will start being flown from Indonesia to Madinah on Wednesday (22/4).
Meanwhile, the second wave of pilgrims will follow, departing for Makkah via Jeddah Airport starting 7 May 2026.