Pangkas Antrean Hajj, Chairman Of Commission VIII DPR Proposes Using Sahabat State Quota

UNSPLASH/Izuddin ILLUSTRATION Helmi Adnan

JAKARTA - Chairman of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives, Marwan Dasopang, proposed using the Hajj quota for friendly countries that were not used to cut the waiting list for Hajj pilgrims. The reason is, Indonesian Hajj queues are now getting longer.

According to Marwan, the scheme can be regulated in the revision of Law No. 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah. The reason is, the law needs to be changed because it is no longer relevant to the needs of the times.

"This law cannot answer our needs. What is irrelevant? The first is institutional matters, the second is about implementation, the third is about the worship process, and the fourth is about Hajj finance," said Marwan, Thursday, February 20.

Marwan then gave an example of a long queue list that became a problem for Hajj organizers. For example, in Bantaeng Regency, South Sulawesi, the waiting list has reached 49 years.

If you register at the age of 50, plus 49 years, then the pilgrims who register can only leave at the age of 99 years. So according to Marwan, there is no hope for prospective pilgrims who register.

"For this reason, this law must be able to answer how to solve this problem. Will the method of sharing it not be with each province, but the representation of the long waiting list. If it remains like this, then those who suffer will be Bantaeng, including East Java, it has been 35 36 years," he explained.

To cut the long waiting list, Marwan proposed using the quota of unused friendly countries. For example, the quota for Filipino pilgrims is always unused.

Then the quota for Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and other Asian Tenggah countries that always leave empty quotas.

They have offered quotas that they do not use, around 6,000 to 7,000. In the Asia Tengah region, such as Kirgis and Uzbek, their quota quota quota is not all used. If we can include this in the article, later the head of the agency will communicate with friendly countries to use the quota," he explained.

According to him, the scheme must be included in the article on the Hajj Law. If it is not included in the article, the use of the quota of friendly countries cannot be done.

"Although friendly countries provide the remainder of their quota," he said.

Regarding the revision of the law, Marwan said, from an institutional point of view, it was not enough that only the directorate general (Dirjen) handled the hajj problem. Because he said, the hajj cycle is quite fast.

"The hajj business has not been completed, it has been hajj again. The hajj cycle for a month of evaluation is reported, efficiency is carried out, then Hajj again," said Marwan.

Therefore, continued Marwan, special agencies need to handle the hajj issue. According to him, hajj matters are more difficult than other fields. Because apart from domestic problems, Hajj is also related to problems abroad.

"After we counted and studied, this hajj business was more difficult than Pendis's business, Bimas Islam, because apart from domestic, there was an MoU for this pilgrimage abroad. The stage was not easy. It was a long time," explained Marwan.

However, Marwan continued, the formation of the agency was also not enough because what was taken care of was foreign problems. For that, according to him, a special ministry needs to take care of Hajj.

Marwan then proposed that the Hajj Organizing Body (BP Hajj) be increased to become the Ministry of Hajj. He also questioned BP Hajj's main duties. Because if referring to the Presidential Regulation (Perpres), BP Haji only takes care of Hajj, not Umrah.

"This needs an answer, whether this body will hold Hajj and Umrah as well. We need a chapter that will discuss Hajj institutions," he said.