Pros and Cons of "War Ticket" for Hajj: Deputy Minister Emphasises It Remains Mere Discussion

TANGERANG - The Deputy Minister for Hajj and Umrah (Wamenhaj) of Indonesia, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, has emphasised that the “war ticket” in the organisation of the Hajj pilgrimage, which has generated pros and cons, has not yet been established as a policy.

“This is not a policy for this year, though. Don’t get it wrong; this is not a policy for this year, but a discussion,” said Dahnil, when met during the closing agenda of the National Hajj Consolidation Working Meeting for the year 1447 Hijriah or 2026 CE at the Tangerang Hajj Dormitory, Friday (10/4/2026).

Dahnil stated that this “war ticket” scheme emerged as a transformation in the organisation of the Hajj pilgrimage to shorten the waiting period for pilgrims.

However, the government has not yet established this as an official policy to be implemented this year or next.

In addition, the government is still seeking a formulation so that this policy can be applied without sacrificing prospective Hajj pilgrims who have already registered previously.

“It (the war ticket) does not sacrifice those in the queue, but provides an opportunity to accelerate the queue to become shorter, so that in subsequent years, there will be no more queues,” he said.

Dahnil explained that the “war ticket” scheme would be implemented if the Saudi Arabian Government provides a large increase in quota.

For example, in 2030, the Saudi Arabian Government is planned to accommodate more than 5 million pilgrims.

Thus, Indonesia’s Hajj pilgrim quota could become 500,000 from 221,000, or more than 150 percent.

Since not all Hajj costs can be subsidised by the state, the “war ticket” discussion has become a topic to reduce the number of queues.

The “war ticket” discussion is applied outside the regular quota that has been set, so it does not affect Hajj pilgrims who have been waiting in line for decades.