Why green passports?

Why green passports?

Many Indonesian would-be haj pilgrims, who were using green
passports, were arrested by the Saudi Arabian government and were
even reportedly placed in jail.

They were found guilty of using green passports, which means
that they participated in the pilgrimage through illegal
channels. (The government-sponsored pilgrims use brown
passports.)

We believe that Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher
will be able to settle this case without causing any trouble. But
we must also consider some opinions that have emerged in the
society. Is sending these pilgrims back to Indonesia the best
alternative?

Or perhaps the Indonesian government could ask the Saudi
government to accept the faulty pilgrims this year, considering
that Indonesia has a good reputation in haj-pilgrimage matters.
Anyhow the pilgrims are already there.

Of course we cannot blame them for this incident because they
obviously left for Saudi Arabia using legal documents and the
Saudi's Embassy has issued them visas. And the immigration office
did not make any attempt to stop them from leaving.

The government should have anticipated the problem and
subsequently prevented this undesirable incident. The root of the
problem is lack of coordination between Indonesia and Saudi
Arabia. Why should the pilgrims become victims of the
shortcomings?

-Republika, Jakarta