Ustaz Abdul Somad Says Hajj Funds Are Used To Build Infrastructure, Moeldoko: The Issue Is Misleading

JAKARTA - Presidential Chief of Staff, Moeldoko, denied the rumors circulating that the government allocated funds for Hajj candidates to finance infrastructure development.

"There is nothing like that. The issue is misleading", said Moeldoko in Mataram as reported by Antara, Tuesday, June 8.

One of the figures who said that the government used Hajj funds to build infrastructure was Ustaz Abdul Somad. This was conveyed by him in a lecture shared by the Twitter account, @narkosun, Monday, June 7 yesterday.

In the video, Ustaz Abdul Somad can be seen vehemently criticizing the cancellation of the pilgrims leaving for the pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. He said that the money belonging to the congregation was used by the government for infrastructure development.

"No money is used for Hajj funds, Muslims are noisy, Muslims are raging, we pay for Hajj to go for Hajj, not our money to build roads, invest! Rampage! Stop, that's the test. If Muslims are angry, it means stopping, if Muslims are silent, it means continuing", said Ustaz Abdul Somad.

According to Meoldoko, the funds deposited by the government managed by the government are still safe. However, continued Meoldoko, the departure could not be carried out because globally it was still in the COVID-19 pandemic situation.

"I have spoken to Mr. Anggito (Head of the Hajj Financial Management Agency, ed.) that the money is safe", he said.

He considered this to be understandable because it was still in the atmosphere of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It cannot be forced to send prospective hajj pilgrims to the Holy Land because the safety of the congregation is the main consideration. All countries also face the same problem, or not only Indonesia", said the former TNI commander.

According to Moeldoko, the policy of departing pilgrims for Hajj candidates is closely related to the policies of the Saudi Arabian government.

Therefore, the Indonesian government can't issue policies that will harm the interests of the nation and state, especially to prevent its people from performing the pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

"So, it's not true that there are funds for prospective hajj candidates used for this. If there are various kinds of issues, it's already misleading", he said again to reporters.

Previously, the Head of Hajj Financial Management Agency (BPKH) Anggito Abimanyu denied that the pilgrimage funds were for infrastructure development.

"In fact, the funds managed by Hajj are invested with little risk. So, nothing (allocated to infrastructure financing)", said Anggito in a virtual discussion entitled Safe Hajj Fund.

Mr. Anggito explained that the investment allocation is aimed at investments with a low to moderate risk profile.

As much as 90 percent of the funds are allocated for investment in the form of state Islamic securities and corporate rates.

"Of course there are other investments whose all risk profiles are low to moderate", he emphasized.

Mr. Anggito invites the public to watch the official BPKH YouTube account which explains in detail related to investment in the management of Hajj funds.

He asked the public to check the BPKH financial reports which are available on the official website. "Please download and read carefully, carefully, so that we can talk about facts and data", he said.