Commission VIII Of The House Of Representatives Agrees On The Proposal For The Establishment Of The Ministry Of Hajj, Here's The Reason

Hajj illustration (photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives, Ashabul Kahfi, agrees with the proposal to form the Ministry of Hajj so that the Hajj affairs will no longer be handled by the Ministry of Religion. According to Kahfi, there are two basic reasons for the formation of the Ministry of Hajj, namely the burden on the Ministry of Religion is getting heavier and pilgrims are increasing every year.

"The main urgency needs to be this ministry, first, the burden of the Ministry of Religion which is already very heavy. Then second, the number of our Hajj from year to year has increased quite a lot. In addition, prospective Umrah pilgrims who also experience very large treatments every year need comprehensive service," said Kahfi, Monday, June 11.

Kahfi said that the Ministry of Religion is currently taking care of many things so that the burden continues to grow. In addition to taking care of Hajj, he said, the Ministry of Religion also takes care of education and religious aspects in Indonesia. This, he said, is one of the reasons for the lack of maximum Hajj services.

"We see that the burden on the Ministry of Religion is very heavy. The presence of the Ministry of Hajj is very much needed, in order to handle the implementation of more comprehensive Hajj so that we can maximize, especially from the aspect of service," explained Kahfi.

In addition, said Kahfi, the number of Indonesian pilgrims and Umrah from year to year continues to grow. According to him, the interest of the Indonesian people in Hajj is very high.

To date, he said, there are approximately 5.3 million Indonesian Hajj candidates queuing for Hajj opportunities and Umrah to Saudi Arabia (Makkah and Medina) every year of approximately 2 million people.

With these conditions, said Kahfi, the existence of the Ministry of Hajj is very much needed to manage the implementation of the pilgrimage in a good and comprehensive manner.

"The impact of the long queue of pilgrims who today have to wait 20 to 40 years, that is also essentially also causing problems. What is the problem? Because the queue is so long that thoughts or wishes arise to participate in carrying out the pilgrimage in various ways including the use of pilgrimage visas, Umrah visas and other visas and it has caused problems to this day," he explained.