Polemic Of Cancellation Of Indonesian Hajj 2021, Minister Of Religion Yaqut Unilaterally?

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion is considered to be premature in deciding to cancel the implementation of Hajj 1442 H/2021 AD. The reason is, Saudi Arabia has not officially closed the door of No Sacred for prospective Indonesian Hajj pilgrims in 2021.

Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Indonesia to Saudi Arabia Agus Maftuh Abegabriel dismissed reports that Indonesia had not received a permit and quota for the 2021 hajj.

He said this because there was no official information from the Kingdom regarding this matter.

"There has been no official information from Saudi Arabia regarding the hajj, including the quota, there has been no official announcement," Agus said, Wednesday, June 2.

Therefore, there is still a possibility or opportunity for prospective pilgrims from Indonesia to go and carry out the pilgrimage in 2021.

The day after, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Indonesia Essam Bin Ahmed Bin Abid Althaqafi wrote to the Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, regarding the cancellation of the pilgrimage for Indonesian pilgrims this year.

In the letter, Essam clarified the mass media coverage which stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not provide quotas for Hajj pilgrims for Indonesia and related to permits for 11 countries to send pilgrims.

"In this regard, I would like to inform Your Majesty, that the news reports are not true and they were not issued by the official authorities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, besides the competent authorities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - so far have not issued any instructions regarding the implementation of this year's hajj, both for Indonesian pilgrims or for other pilgrims from all countries in the world," he wrote in the letter.

The letter was circulated on the same day after the Ministry of Religion, the DPR and related stakeholders announced the cancellation of the 2021 Hajj implementation, Thursday, June 3.

Member of Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Bukhori Yusuf, assessed that the Minister of Religion, Yaqut Cholil Coumas, was too hasty in deciding to abolish the implementation of the Hajj 1442 H/2021 AD.

“The government's hasty decision to cancel the hajj is unfortunate. Actually, it doesn't matter if only a fraction of the total prospective pilgrims have to depart for our Hajj pilgrims," said Bukhori, Friday, June 4.

The PKS politician admitted that from the start he encouraged the Indonesian government to take productive diplomatic steps to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In fact, he has long urged President Jokowi to make a special visit to King Salman to obtain certainty of hajj for prospective Indonesian pilgrims.

According to him, the seriousness of the President to directly participate in lobbying must be carried out for a long time as a form of the government's seriousness in fulfilling the rights of the Indonesian people, especially Muslims to fulfill one of the pillars of Islam.

"We regret to say, so far we have not seen any serious efforts from the government in order to fulfill the right of Muslims to perform Hajj," said Bukhori.

"Even though the President could have called directly, even faced King Salman directly. So what has he done so far, where is the government taking sides for Muslims?" he continued.

This member of the Legislative Body of the DPR also believes that the opportunity to continue to dispatch prospective Indonesian hajj pilgrims is actually still open even in the midst of a pandemic. Moreover, the vaccine used by the Indonesian congregation, namely the Sinovac vaccine, has received a license from the WHO.

Deputy Chairperson of the MPR, Hidayat Nur Wahid, asked the government to continue to strive for Indonesia's hajj quota so that it can dispatch pilgrims for the 2021 hajj.

He considered that President Joko Widodo could open communication and diplomacy at the level of the head of state with the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, in order to discuss the issue of Indonesia's hajj quota this year.

"This is important and can be done by President Joko Widodo to prove the government's seriousness in defending the rights of hajj candidates who are also Indonesians," said Hidayat, Friday, June 4.

He said that these efforts have been carried out by the governments of other countries, one of which is Malaysia through the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Muhyiddin Yassin.

According to him, if Jokowi had carried out high-level diplomacy, Muslims in Indonesia would certainly accept whatever the outcome was. Because the state leadership has tried its best. Moreover, Jokowi and King Salman are known to have good relations.

"President Jokowi has a close relationship with King Salman, and even came directly to Saudi Arabia in April 2019 in order to discuss increasing cooperation in the economic sector," said the deputy chairman of the PKS Syuro Council.

On the one hand, he continued, the Saudi Arabian government has so far not announced a quota for hajj from outside the country for the 2021 hajj pilgrimage. This week the local authority has just issued entry permits to 11 countries for business purposes, including tourism, but not hajj and umrah. .

The 11 countries that are allowed to enter Saudi Arabia, as announced by the Ministry of the Interior of Saudi Arabia, are the United States, Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Germany, France, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Arab Emirates.

Hidayat understands the reason for the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Coumas who canceled this year's hajj due to considerations of the health and safety of the congregation in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"But it doesn't necessarily make a unilateral decision with the cancellation of the Hajj candidate," he said.

The Ministry of Religion denies the assumption that it has been in a hurry in deciding to cancel the departure of the 2021 Hajj pilgrims. The reason is that the decision announced by the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Coumas has been carried out through an in-depth study.

"The decision is of course based on an in-depth study, both from the health aspect, the implementation of worship, to the time of preparation. It is not true to say that you are in a hurry,” said the Acting Director General of Hajj and Umrah Organization Khoirizi in Jakarta, Friday, June 4.

"The government even carried out a series of discussions, both in the form of work meetings, hearings, and committee meetings with the House of Representatives Commission VIII," he continued.

Khoirizi said, the Ministry of Religion certainly hopes that there will be a hajj this year. In fact, since December 2020, the Ministry of Religion has carried out a series of preparations, as well as formulating mitigation.

"Various scenarios have been prepared, ranging from normal quotas to quota restrictions of 50 percent, 30 percent, 25 percent to 5 percent," he said.

In addition, he continued, preparations for the implementation were also carried out, both at home and abroad. Preparation of domestic services, for example related to flight contracts, payment of pilgrimage travel costs (Bipih), preparation of travel documents, preparation of officers, and implementation of ritual guidance.

Likewise, the preparation of services in Saudi, both accommodation, consumption, and transportation, including the implementation of the Hajj health protocol scheme, and others.

"However, everything can only be resolved if the amount of the hajj quota has been received from the Saudis," he said.