Troops to support haj operation

Troops to support haj operation

JAKARTA (JP): To ensure order and peace, the government will use troops to help send some 195,000 Indonesians on haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

The massive haj operation, which will begin on March 23, has always been marred by chaos, at the lodgings where pilgrims are accommodated before leaving, at the airports of departure, and at their lodgings in Saudi Arabia.

A senior official of the Ministry of Religious Affairs said that this year, for the first time, troops will be brought in to ensure order.

Abdurrosyad, secretary of the Director General for Islam and Haj Affairs, declined to say how many soldiers would be involved but say they would be present at every phase of the operation.

Hopefully, the haj operation this year will be more orderly, Abdurrosyad said.

Observers have said that the task of sending pilgrims from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia is as complex, if not more so, than the deployment of the U.S.-led multinational force to Saudi Arabia to expel the Iraqis from Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1991. While this may be true in terms of logistics, the pilgrims do not have the same discipline as the military, they said.

Abdurrosyad said the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which coordinates the haj operation, has also benefited from management concepts used by the Armed Forces.

The first flights taking Indonesian pilgrims to Saudi Arabia will leave on March 23. The pilgrimage will peak on April 28 with Idul Adha (Sacrifice) Day. Afterwards, the government will have to bring home those pilgrims in a similarly arduous operation.

The 195,000 pilgrims registered by the government will be divided into 453 flights which will depart from five designated airports: Halim Perdanakusumah, Jakarta (195 groups), Juanda, Surabaya (118), Polonia, Medan (35), Hasanuddin, Ujungpandang (66) and Sepinggan, Balikpapan (39).

Garuda Indonesia, appointed to shift the pilgrims, is using 24 planes to do so. (01)