Saudi Arabia Cuts 50 Percent Quota For Hajj Officers In 2024, Minister Of Religion Yaqut: This Is A Challenge, Especially Elderly Congregants

Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (ANTARA/HO-Kemenag)

JAKARTA - Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas revealed that reducing the quota of Indonesian Hajj officers is a challenge in handling the elderly pilgrims (elderly) at the Hajj pilgrimage 1445 Hijri/2024 AD. For next year's Hajj, Saudi Arabia will only provide quotas for Indonesian Hajj officers as many as 2,000 people. The number of quotas decreased by 50 percent from the previous 4,200-4,600 Indonesian Hajj officers. "Because a 50 percent reduction is clearly a challenge for Indonesian elderly pilgrims," he said in Jakarta, Antara, Monday, November 13. However, Yaqut emphasized that the government will try its best to find a solution related to the quota of officers. Starting from discussing internal preparations related to increasing the quota of officers to communicating with the Saudi Arabian Hajj authorities. The reason is, Hajj officers have a central role that ensures that all Indonesian pilgrims can complete the entire series of Islamic pillars of worship smoothly until they return to the country. "The previous quota cannot be reduced, let alone reduced. Ideally it is 1:50, but the quota calculated is 1:100, we will try to do this," he said. The Ministry of Religion confirmed that in the 2023 Hajj season as many as 774 hajj pilgrims died and one person was missing in the Holy Land, while about 30 other people died after arriving in Indonesia, which on average is an elderly pilgrim. To reduce cases of death and illness pilgrims, the Ministry of Religion has prepared a scheme that prioritizes the application of health requirements (istitha'ah) for Hajj pilgrims together with the Ministry of Health.

The implementation of the scheme will be carried out for prospective hajj participants through health counseling and guidance on the rituals of Hajj and involve the participation of the community or the Hajj and Umrah Guidance Group and Islamic community organizations.