Minister Of Religion Yaqut Encourages The Regional Office To Pick Up The Ball Regarding The Repayment Of The 2023 Hajj Departure Fee

Illustration of the pilgrimage. (Antanews)

Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas asked the Regional Office (Kanwil) of the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) to make a breakthrough in the form of picking up the ball so that the congregation can immediately pay the hajj fee.

"I ask the Regional Office and the Ministry of Religion not to wait and have to pick up the ball because the data on prospective pilgrims already exists. Don't wait for the congregation to come, we have to intervene," said the Minister of Religion in a written statement, Tuesday, May 9, which was confiscated by Antara.

The Minister of Religion, who received a report from the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion throughout Indonesia, said that the average payment of pilgrims until Monday, May 8, reached 90 percent. This condition requires a breakthrough so that the rest of the congregation can immediately pay off.

In addition, the Minister of Religion also instructed that the recruitment of additional hajj officers did not use a scheme to appoint participants who did not pass the previous recruitment.

"I do not agree with the scheme that did not pass the previous recruitment of officers to be used as additional officers. We need time to determine this and still have to be discussed specifically," said the Minister of Religion.

The Minister of Religion also asked that in the future there be no more guidebooks for organizing the pilgrimage which are considered ineffective in the budget.

"I hope that in the future there will be no more bookprints and everything must be digitized that can be accessed through the Pusaka application, which of course saves the budget rather than book print," said the Minister of Religion.

The Director General of Hajj and Umrah (PHU) of the Ministry of Religion, Hilman Latief, said that the payment of Hajj costs until May 5, 2023 had reached 188,964 people or 84.96 of the 221 thousand quota.

"Meanwhile, for biometric visas, it has reached around 70 percent, the provision of accommodation and consumption services in Saudi Arabia has also reached the final stage," he said.

In order for the Hajj quota of 1444H/2023M to be maximally absorbed, Hilman asked the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion to encourage pilgrims to immediately pay off the Hajj Travel Fee (BIPIH).

In addition, Kakanwil was also asked to convey information that the reserve pilgrims would fill the additional quota given by Saudi Arabia as many as 8,000 people.

"And register BIPIH's paid off pilgrims who will postpone their departure," said Hilman Latief.

Regarding the obstacles, he explained that the payment time with the beginning of the departure of the first batch was only 15 days. In addition, the addition of quota will also have an impact on adding 19 clusters.

Thus, it is necessary to discuss flight slots with the airline and approval from the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Saudi Arabia.

"Also it is necessary to add a cooperation agreement with airlines, additional clusters have an impact on additional departures from Hajj dormitories, while the capacity of certain Hajj dormitories is limited," he said.