Minister Of Religion Is Not Ambitious In Adding Hajj Quota Because It Has The Opportunity To Create Deviations

Minister of Religion Nasaruddin Umar (Wardhany Tsa Tsia/VOI)

Minister of Religion Nasaruddin Umar said the addition of quotas for Hajj participants was not his priority. He realized this step was prone to irregularities.

"We do, I am not too ambitious to increase the hajj quota. Because if you add to the hajj quota, it opens up opportunities for irregularities," Nasruddin Umar told reporters at the ACLC KPK building, Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, Wednesday, March 12.

Learning from a number of countries in the process of managing the pilgrimage, Nasaruddin said that additional facilities and officers must definitely be carried out when the quota of pilgrims is increased.

"Suddenly we will add 20 thousand, for example, where do we want to put the mattress, right, in the end, if we add it," he said.

"That's why sometimes people storm their tents, storming people's food," continued Nasaruddin.

So, instead of increasing the quota, the Ministry of Religion is currently more focused on increasing the assistance of prospective pilgrims. Nasaruddin said this need was more urgent so that the participants could be served properly when in the Holy Land.

"Well, so I think what we will need here is additional assistance, because if the assistance is more, it means that our Hajj pilgrims will be served well," he said.

Meanwhile, Indonesia currently gets 221,000 hajj quotas for 2025. In detail, 203,320 regular Hajj pilgrims and 17,680 special Hajj pilgrims.

Meanwhile, the quota for the 2025 Hajj officers is only 2,210 people. This quota decreased compared to 2024 which reached 4,200 people.