In Order To Be Effective, The Chairman Of Komnas Hajj Agrees To The Establishment Of The Ministry Of Hajj

Illustration of Hajj (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The chairman of Komnas Hajj as well as a lecturer at UIN Jakarta, Mustolih Siradj, agreed with the DPR's proposal regarding the formation of the Ministry of Hajj. According to Mustolah, so far there has been an inequality between the Ministry of Religion and the Hajj Financial Management Agency (BPKH) which has created sectoral egos, hampering the effectiveness of Hajj management in Indonesia.

"Just focus, the institution is given a mandate, given the authority from upstream to downstream so that it can be budget efficiency, human resource efficiency, and then there is no emergence of sectoral egos," Mustorih said Monday, June 10.

Mustorih suggested that the Ministry of Hajj be formed separately from the Ministry of Religion at this time. This step is expected to be able to avoid dualism in the management of Hajj and ensure that all processes related to the pilgrimage can be centralized and run more coordinated.

"This Hajj does need to be separated from the Ministry of Religion and then its own ministries or institutions. However, later the conditions will be like this, if for example this is to be initiated, it is not partial. The meaning is related to the management of hajj finance because now there is a dualism in Hajj managers," he explained.

Mustorih said that the management of Hajj has been too complex and has experienced many obstacles. According to him, BPKH has been only used as a cashier by the DPR and the Ministry of Religion. This happens because in the discussion of the amount of the cost of organizing the pilgrimage, BPKH is often not directly involved.

"BPKH feels that on its journey it will only be used as a cashier by the DPR and the Ministry of Religion. During the discussion, for example the amount of the cost of organizing the pilgrimage, they were not involved," said Mustorih.

Currently, the management of Hajj is regulated by the Directorate General of Hajj and Umrah (Ditjen PHU) which is under the Ministry of Religion, while the financial aspect is regulated by BPKH in accordance with Law Number 34 of 2014 concerning Hajj Financial Management. This inequality in role, according to Mustorih, is one of the factors that complicates the management of Hajj in Indonesia.

"There is Law Number 34 of 2014 concerning Hajj Financial Management which then raises a new institution, namely the Hajj Financial Management Agency (BPKH), which is directly under the president. Now, this is finally quite difficult in practice, especially related to coordination factors," he explained.

Mustorih suggested that the management of the hajj be centralized by the formation of a separate Ministry of Hajj. The hope is that this step can make the management of the pilgrimage more efficient and coordinated so that services to pilgrims can be improved.

"If this is actually synchronized and then merged, there will be no more organizers and no more managing finances separately, I think this is actually much more efficient," concluded Mustolih.