INDONESIAN HAJJ PILGRIMS NEED BETTER SERVICE

BY Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Oct 19 (ANTARA) - Indonesian hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia are in need of better services although there has been an improvement this year over those provided last year.          The transportation system still poses a problem with pilgrims complaining about the waiting time for a bus to take them from the airport to Mecca or Medina.          This year, some pilgrims even experienced a mishap on the road when one of their buses caught fire, burning the pilgrims' luggage in the process.          "Actually, the services provided for the Indonesian pilgrims have been better than those last year, but it seems that the pilgrims still face problems with transportation. For example, there has been an accident where a bus carrying Indonesian pilgrims from Medina to Mecca caught fire, burning the pilgrims' luggage," Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.          He said that he had asked the consortium of the Saudi bus company to compensate the pilgrims for their burnt luggage. He also said that the pilgrims must have insurance cover in the future.          Muhammad Oheo, a member of the Hajj Monitoring Team of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) said that he had received complaints about the transportation system. He said that the pilgrims complained of the long waiting time at the airport.          "The Indonesian pilgrims get off flights after an air journey of eight hours and they must not be made to wait for so long to get a bus to their destination," he said.          Oheo also urged the Saudi authorities to provide professional and quality services to the Indonesian hajj pilgrims, in view of the bus fire incident.          He said that all Indonesian hajj pilgrims deserve professional services because they have already paid for services like transportation, lodging, catering and other administrative services such as immigration service at the airport.          "The cost must be balanced with quality and professional services. The Saudi king needs to intervene to improve the services for pilgrims," he said, while referring to the transportation service which remains the same, year after year.          A monitoring team of lawmakers is now in Saudi Arabia to monitor the services provided to the Indonesian hajj pilgrims.        According to the head of the Indonesian Hajj Management Unit for Mecca area (Daker Mekkah), Arsyad Hidayat, the monitoring team would  monitor the hajj pilgrimage services, including supervising preparations for the transportation system,  health, lodging, catering and other activities such as rituals in the Arafah, Mina and Muzdalifah fields.          Even though the transportation service remains a problem, Indonesian officials serving the pilgrims have worked well, according to Muhammad Oheo. Therefore, he expressed his appreciation towards Indonesian hajj workers for their efforts to serve the pilgrims.          Minister Suryadharma Ali opined that this year's services by the officials were better than those last year.          "So far this year, the hajj services are better than last year," Suryadharma said at King Abdul Aziz airport in Jeddah on Thursday.          He said that the better service could be observed at the immigration counters which had worked faster than last year.         Clearance of documents could be finished within 1 to 2 hours now, faster than the 3-4 hours taken for the same task last year.          The minister said that the arrival schedules were also much better and on time, though several flight arrivals were delayed.          The lodging in Mecca for the Indonesian hajj pilgrims is also relatively good as its distance from the Al Harm Mosque is the same as last year, around 2.5 km away, despite the fact that the authorities have demolished some of the buildings around the mosque.          In Medina, the Indonesian pilgrims are lodged only 650 meters away from the Nabawi Mosque, which is an improvement over the lodging last year.          In the meantime, the DPR's monitoring team which observed the hajj pilgrimage conditions in Sector 9 or the Bahutmah and Misfalah areas in Mecca on Tuesday concluded that the timing of the ritual activities in Mecca for Indonesian pilgrims needed to be rearranged in an effort to reduce the risk of fatigue for ageing pilgrims.          "Based on the information we gathered, fatigue is the main trigger for bad health of the pilgrims," said monitoring team member, Nova Iriansyah Nurin Sutie.          According to Sutie, a hajj group organizer has the target to organize umroh (minor hajj) for their group 10 times. In order to achieve the target, the pilgrims are led to perform rituals continuously that would reduce the physical strength of the pilgrims.          "Health of the pilgrims is critical. When they arrive in Mecca in the wee hours, they are directly asked to perform the tawaf (encircling the Kaabah in the mosque). This is regardless of the fact that pilgrims are still lacking sleep," noted Sutie.          She said that the pilgrims need to rest first to restore their physical condition and to ensure their stamina before performing the umroh ritual.          "If the pilgrims are forced to perform secondary ritual obligations, it is feared they would not be able to perform the main rituals of the hajj pilgrimage during the procession in the Arafah, Muzdalifa and Mina fields," she added.           According to the quota given by the Saudi government, about 211 thousand Indonesians perform hajj pilgrimage this year. Of the total, 194,000 perform hajj pilgrimage using the regular hajj service and 17,000 using the special hajj service.***3*** (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 19-10-2012 1