Strict deadline on haj registration

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)