Agree Separated From The Ministry Of Religion, Chairman Of Commission VIII DPR Proposes BPKH To Become Ministry Of Hajj

JAKARTA - Chairman of Commission VIII DPR, Ashabul Kahfi agreed with the suggestion of the Chairman of the Budget Agency (Banggar) of the DPR RI, Said Abdullah, who stated that ideally the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) was separated from the Ministry of Hajj. Ashabul said that the separation between the Ministry of Religion and the Ministry of Hajj was the domain of political policy. In today's context, he said, the management dualism occurred, namely between the Ministry of Religion and the Hajj Financial Management Agency (BPKH). "In the aspect of the policy, the implementation of the pilgrimage is the domain of the Ministry of Religion, but in the aspect of managing Hajj is in other institutions, namely BPKH," said Ashabul Kahfi to reporters, Thursday, June 6. Therefore, the PAN legislator agreed that the management of the Hajj implementation was regulated by the ministry itself.

"Regarding the proposed separation, in principle I strongly agree that the management of the pilgrimage will become a political policy directly under the President. So far, hajj has only been one of the Directorates of a ministry," said Ashabul.

However, according to Ashabul, the proposed separation of ministries must be studied comprehensively in various aspects. He also proposed that BPKH be changed to become the Ministry of Hajj to make it easier. "The easiest thing is to change the institution in the form of the Hajj Financial Management Agency into a Ministry of Hajj," said Ashabul.

Previously, the Chairman of the Budget Agency (Banggar) of the DPR RI, Said Abdullah, responded to the statement of the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy, regarding the Indonesian Hajj Hospital in Saudi Arabia. Said assessed that ideally the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) was separated from the Ministry of Hajj.

"Actually, in Commission VIII in 2004, 2009 we have proposed a Hajj Hospital in Saudi Arabia and at the same time build a maktab in Saudi," Said said in a meeting with the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, and the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs at the parliament complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, June 5.

According to Said, it would be more appropriate for the Ministry of Religion to be separated from the Ministry of Hajj. Nevertheless, he continued, Said did not dare to convey this because he was not the winner of the 2024 presidential election.

"However, it turns out that the ruler is not the Ministry of Hajj, the ruler in Saudi is the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is ideal that the Ministry of Religion itself, the Ministry of Hajj itself, but because I am not the winner, I do not dare sir, he-he...," said the chairman of the PDIP DPP.