Revealed: Dadan Hindayana Waited 12 Years for Hajj Pilgrimage, Registered Since 2014

The Hajj pilgrimage undertaken by Dadan Hindayana this year apparently holds a long story that has only just come to public knowledge. The former Head of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) revealed that he had to wait for 12 years before finally getting the opportunity to depart for the Holy Land with his wife. The story came under the spotlight after Dadan returned from Saudi Arabia and was shortly afterwards dismissed from his post by President Prabowo Subianto. Amidst public attention on the change of BGN leadership and his arrest, the story of his long wait to perform Hajj drew particular interest. A portrait of Dadan performing the pilgrimage even circulated widely on social media. In one post shared by the Instagram account @respons.media, he was seen wearing all-white clothing and smiling amidst the atmosphere of worship in the Holy Land. Yet behind that photograph lies a long journey that began more than a decade ago. Dadan revealed that he and his wife had registered for the Hajj pilgrimage in 2014. Like millions of other Indonesian prospective pilgrims, they had to enter a long waiting list before finally getting the chance to depart. The wait only ended in 2026 when their names were called to fulfil the fifth pillar of Islam. ‘We both registered on 5 May 2014, so it was a 12-year wait and we were finally called precisely this year,’ Dadan said at King Abdul Aziz Airport, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Although he was undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage, Dadan at that time still made time to carry out several agendas related to the field he had been responsible for. One of these was a visit to the Indonesian School in Jeddah. During that occasion, he discussed the possibility of implementing the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme for Indonesian children living abroad. According to Dadan, the proposal had been submitted to President Prabowo for further study. However, the plan apparently came to nothing after he was dismissed and named as a suspect.