Jakarta, June 19 (Antara) - Amid the Saudi government's policy to cut
hajj pilgrims' numbers due to expansion work at Mecca's Grand Mosque,
some quarters in Indonesia urged the government to lobby its Saudi
counterpart to increase Indonesia's hajj quota.
Former chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) who is also
a member of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives (DPR)
Hidayat Nurwahid said the government needed to renegotiate Indonesia's
hajj quota with the Saudi government.
"We hope that the religious affairs ministry will be able to voice at
the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Indonesia's need for
increased quota. The quota should no longer be based on the number of
population of a country but on its capability and need," Hidayat said in
a meeting between House Commission VIII, regional government and
provincial religious affairs offices in Central Sulawesi, on Wednesday.
The current hajj quota of Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country
with a population of about 240 million, is about 211,000 pilgrims.
Hidayat expressed his expectation for increased hajj quota even amid
the Saudi government's appeal to Muslim countries to reduce the number
of their hajj pilgrims this year as expansion work at Mecca's Grand
Mosque had not been completed.
Xinhua, quoting Arab News, reported from Riyadh on Sunday that Saudi
Arabia has called upon foreign pilgrims to postpone their Hajj plans
this year.
This was highlighted through a series of
announcements through the Holy Qur'an television channel from Mecca, the
government advised pilgrims intending to perform Hajj and Umrah (minor
hajj) this year to postpone their plans to the Grand Mosque.
The call came after the government's decision to reduce the number of
foreign pilgrims by 20 percent and domestic pilgrims by 50 percent this
year. According to official figure, 3.161 million pilgrims preformed
hajj last year; if counting illegal hajj performers, the number could be
around 4 million.
According to Indonesian Religious Affairs Minister Suryadarma Ali, the
Saudi government has cut Indonesia's hajj quota by 20 percent. The
policy to cut the hajj quota was contained in the Saudi religious
minister's letter on June 6, 2013 which said that the quota was cut
because there was a delay in the completion of the rehabilitation
of the Haram (Grand) Mosque. It was cut to ensure the safety of hajj
pilgrims.
The minister said that the Saudi government cut not only the quota of
Indonesia but also of all countries which sent hajj pilgrims to Saudi
Arabia. The quota of respective countries was cut by 20 percent from the
basic quota as agreed by member countries of the Organization of
Islamic Conference (OIC).
"The
delay in the completion of the rehabilitation of the Haram Mosque
reduced the mosque's accommodating capacity for the tawaf (encircling
the cubical shrine of Kabah) ritual. It could initially accommodate
some 48,000 pilgrims for the tawaf ritual per hour. With the delay, the
accommodating capacity dropped to 22,000 pilgrims only," he said.
The
Saudi government cut Indonesia's hajj pilgrimage quota this year by 20
percent or 42,200 pilgrims from 211,000 to 168,000 pilgrims.
"We
call on the 180,000 would-be hajj pilgrims who have got their turn to
go to the Holy Land this year to patiently wait for policies to be
issued by the Religious Affairs Ministry after it holds a meeting with
the Saudi Arabian government. We hope would-be pilgrims would give us
time," the minister said last week.
Chief
of the Muhammadiyah youths executive board Saleh Partaonan Daulay said
Indonesia should lobby the Saudi government to review its decision to
slash Indonesia's hajj quota by 20 percent this year
"If necessary,
the President can meet the Saudi king. I believe the meeting with the
Saudi king will be more effective than writing a letter to him," he
said.
Saleh
who is also chief of the foreign commission at the Indonesian Ulemas
Council (MUI) said the meeting will also show that the Indonesian
government is more serious about resolving its hajj quota problem.
With
the existing quota, many would-be hajj pilgrims have been on the
waiting list until the next few years. This means that if the quota is
slashed the waiting list will grow even longer, he said.
Until last year, about 1.9 million people had been on the waiting
list. This means that with the quota of 211,000, the country will wait
for about nine years to finish sending the would-be hajj pilgrims in the
waiting list.
Therefore, the Indonesian Hajj Solidarity Association (IPHI) urged the
government to ask for dispensation from the Saudi government.
General
Chairman of the IPHI Kurdi Mustafa said that Indonesia deserved
dispensation in the hajj quota cut the Saudi government will impose this
year.
"The Saudi government must give dispensation with priorities and the
quota cut must be shared transparently," Kurdi Mustafa said during a
thank-giving function held to observe the 23rd anniversary of IPHI on
Sunday night.
He said that his side supported the Indonesian government's efforts to
obtain dispensation priority from Saudi Arabia which would cut hajj
quota by 20 percent this year.
Kurdi
said that Religious Affairs Minister Suryadarma Ali would soon hold
diplomatic dialogs with the Saudi government over the dispensation.
"The Indonesian government is proposing it but we do not know the
results yet. We hope we can get priority," the IPHI chairman said.
He also expressed hope that the Saudi government's decision to cut the hajj quota would be understood by the public.
Minister Suryadarma Ali also hoped that the affected would-be pilgrims would be patient.
He said that the religious affairs ministry would assure the departure
in 2014 of would-be hajj pilgrims who were affected by the Saudi policy
and could not go to the Holy Land this year. If
next year, there is an increase in hajj pilgrimage cost, they would not be charged with the difference.
"The minister of religious affairs will make diplomatic efforts and
discuss it with the Saudi government immediately, particularly with the
Saudi minister for hajj affairs and with other relevant parties. We will
also ask for dispensation," Suryadarma said.
Up to June 12, a total of 167,500 would-be hajj pilgrims for this
year's hajj season had paid off their hajj pilgrimage cost (BPIH),
according to the computerized data of the Religious Affairs
Ministry.***4***
(T.A014/H-YH)
(T.SYS/A/A. Abdussalam/A/Yosep) 19-06-2013 19 |
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