67 Thousand Indonesian Pilgrims First Hajj Group Departure May 24, 2023

Illustration of pilgrims (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - A total of 67,000 flying groups (Kloters) of the first Indonesian pilgrims in 2023/1444 Hijri began departing for Saudi Arabia on May 24, 2023 through 14 Hajj embarkations in Indonesia. "The number of pilgrims after the COVID-19 pandemic returned to normal with a quota of 221 thousand people," said Director General of Hajj and Umrah (PHU) of the Ministry of Religion, Hilman Latief during Technical Guidance and Functions for the Hajj Organizing Committee (PPIH), at Pondok Gede Hajj Dormitory, Makassar District, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, April 8. Out of that number, as many as 67 thousand people are elderly pilgrims. The Ministry of Religion is committed to realizing elderly Hajj services that will be dispatched to the Holy Land. "We have to prepare officers more maturely in terms of their insights, skills, dedication, because the challenges this year are quite large. There is a Jemaah configuration whose number of elderly people is quite large, almost 20-30 percent," said Hilman Latief. He said.

"It will be decided whether to depart for the Holy Land unconditionally, on certain conditions or, it is not even feasible to depart," he said. The Directorate General of Hajj and Umrah Services of the Ministry of Religion organized the Technical Guidance on Integrated Tasks and Functions of PPIH Saudi Arabia which was carried out on 7-16 April 2023, to improve the coordination of services and service areas of officers and unite the vision and mission of PPIH Saudi Arabia which was attended by 1,234 hajj officers.