Get Ready! If It Is Opened By Saudi Arabia, The Government Will Send The 2020 Hajj Pilgrims This Year

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JAKARTA - Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas ensured that pilgrims who are entitled to go for Hajj in 2020 will depart for the Holy Land this year if the Government of Saudi Arabia opens the entrance for pilgrims from Indonesia.

"Hajj pilgrims who will depart in 1443 Hijri are those who have the right to leave 1441 Hijri or 2020 AD," he said during a working meeting with Commission VIII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, which was followed online from Jakarta, reported by Antara, Monday, January 17.

Yaqut said that until now there has been no information from the royal authorities of Saudi Arabia regarding the organization of the pilgrimage, including with regard to quotas for pilgrims.

"Certainty regarding the implementation of the 1443H/2022M pilgrimage has not been obtained. The Saudi Arabian government has not been able to hold talks regarding (it)," he said.

Nevertheless, he said, the Ministry of Religion was still making preparations referring to the three scenarios for the quota of pilgrims, namely the full quota of pilgrims, the limited quota of pilgrims, or absolutely not allowed to send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia as two years ago.

"The government is currently still working to consider full options," said the Minister of Religion. He hoped that Saudi Arabia would immediately provide certainty regarding the implementation of Hajj services considering that the time to prepare for the departure of the pilgrims was increasingly limited.

Under normal conditions, he explained, the government needs certainty of quotas for hajj pilgrims at least from December to January in order to be able to dispatch pilgrims in the first flying group in June.

"This condition shows that the time remaining for the implementation of the Hajj is only about four months. Given the wide scope of Hajj services, the time remaining is very limited, so we have to make various preparations," he said.

In the last two years, the Indonesian government has been unable to send pilgrims to the Holy Land due to the COVID-19 pandemic.