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)