Strict deadline on haj registration

JAKARTA (JP): The government will strictly enforce the registration deadline for the next haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, so every participant can be subjected to adequate health checks.

Next year's deadline will be three months prior to date of departure.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher said on Thursday that the government hopes to cut down the number of fatalities among Indonesian pilgrims and, therefore, the registration deadline had to be strictly enforced.

"There will be no more last minute registrations as there were in the past," he told reporters after meeting with President Soeharto at the Bina Graha Presidential Office.

With three months of leeway, doctors can still prescribe would-be pilgrims medicine or care to ensure that they are fit to undergo the grueling trip, he said.

He stressed that it was necessary for pilgrims to be in prime physical condition to safely perform the haj.

A record 638 Indonesians died in this year's haj pilgrimage, representing about 0.4 percent of the total 165,000 pilgrims. This is higher than 0.3 percent casualty rate in 1993.

Most of the victims died of old age, heart conditions and stroke. (emb)