Ministry Of Religion Asks DPR Hajj Special Committee To Prove Corruption Allegations Of Hajj Quota

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - Director General of Hajj and Umrah (PHU) of the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) Nailman Latief asked the Special Committee (Pansus) Hajj to prove corruption allegations addressed to the Ministry of Religion regarding the transfer of the regular hajj quota to special Hajj.

"Just prove it," said Hilman Latief, quoted by ANTARA, Monday, July 15.

Previously, Member of the Special Committee (Pansus) for the House of Representatives' Hajj Supervision, Luluk Nur Hamidah, said that his party found indications of corruption in organizing the Hajj related to the transfer of the regular hajj quota to special Hajj.

"Not only are there indications of violations of the law, but we also smell indications of corruption in the transfer of regular hajj quotas to special hajj," Luluk said some time ago.

Luluk said the indications emerged based on information received by the Hajj Questionnaire Special Committee.

In response to this, Hilman said the special hajj quota taken from the additional quota is a provision from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Ministry of Hajj together with the Ministry of Religion previously carried out simulations of potential density in Mina.

When the simulation is carried out, he said, the density in Mina that cannot be avoided anymore, especially in the maktab occupied by Indonesian pilgrims. If forced, it will threaten the safety of the soul.

"In the MoU between its ministers (Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia and Minister of Hajj of Saudi), the figure is indeed that much. We don't have to sell carelessly," said Hilman.

Hilman said the Ministry of Religion could not decide on the distribution of quotas if there was no formulation from the Saudi Ministry of Hajj which was passed down through documents.

When documents from the Ministry of HajjSaudi go down, he said, the Ministry of Religion can only process the distribution of additional hajj quota allocations. "From there we will process the documents, if there is none, we can't process them," he said.

Hilman also emphasized that the Ministry of Religion is ready to bring the necessary documents and data when the Hajj Special Committee meeting begins.

Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said he was ready to follow every evaluation process for the implementation of the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage, responding to the agreement of the formation of the Special Committee (Pansus) Hajj by the DPR.

"Yes, we just follow it. That is a process prepared by the constitution. So we just follow it," said Minister of Religion Yaqut.

Currently, the government is still focused on completing services in Hajj operations, he said, especially now entering the phase of repatriation of pilgrims. The evaluation will be carried out after the Hajj operational period is complete.

"I can't talk about the evaluation yet. Because the Hajj operation has not been completed. So later we will wait for the operation to be completed until July 23, we can only convey it to the public," said Minister of Religion Yaqut.