DPR Says There Is No Coordination On Transfer Of Additional Hajj Quota Of 50 Percent From The Ministry Of Religion

Illustration of the DPR Building of the MPR Senayan Jakarta. (Between)

JAKARTA - Commission VIII of the DPR RI revealed that there was no coordination regarding the transfer of additional hajj quotas of 50 percent from the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag). Although the Ministry of Religion admits that it has received approval or approval from Saudi Arabia. "Because there is such a long queue of 5.3 million pilgrims, it should be discussed and consulted, which one should be regular and which one should be for Hajj plus," he added. The PKS legislator explained, for the plus Hajj quota in the law, it was stated that the addition of a maximum quota was only 8 percent. "For 20 thousand for two, it is impossible for the minister to hit the rules that have been signed by the president," he said. Wisnu also agreed that if the Ministry of Religion has no coordination with the DPR regarding the addition of quotas that have received Saudi Arabia's approval. In fact, he said, BPKH had already admitted his mistake.

"Yes, that's right, without coordination for 50 percent of that. Yesterday we FGD with BPKH, and BPKH has admitted that they are wrong if they don't coordinate regarding the allocation," said Wisnu. It is known that the issue of the additional allocation of the 1445 H/2024 M hajj quota emerged in line with the formation of the Special Committee for Hajj Rights by the DPR. One of the questions asked was why the additional quota was allocated 50 percent for regular Hajj and 50 percent for special Hajj. Quoted from the Ministry of Religion.go.id page, Indonesia this year received 221,000 quotas, consisting of 203,320 regular hajj quotas and 17,680 special hajj quotas. This is in accordance with Article 64 of Law No. 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah that the special hajj quota is 8 percent.

In addition, President Joko Widodo during a visit to Saudi Arabia in October 2023 received an additional special quota of 20,000 pilgrims. It is called special because this is the first time Indonesia has received such an additional quota.

Article 9 of Law No. 8/2019 stipulates that the allocation of additional quotas is regulated by the Minister of Religion. The additional quota is then allocated 10,000 for regular Hajj pilgrims and 10,000 for special Hajj pilgrims.

"We get a quota for Hajj, June 30, 2023. The number is 221,000 pilgrims. During the initial discussion with the DPR Working Committee, the number is still 221,000. In the middle of the road there is information on the results of the president's visit, Indonesia gets an extra quota of 20,000 specials," explained Director General of Hajj and Umrah Implementation Hilman Latif at the Coffee Morning Sukses Hajj 2024 in Jakarta, Monday, July 15.

Hilman admitted that since before there was an additional quota, his party had discussed with Saudi Arabia regarding the density in Mina. According to him, a simulation of 221,000 quotas was discussed, as many as 30,000 used the tanazil scheme to the hotel, to reduce the density in Mina.

Tanazul means that the congregation separates themselves from the group, does not stay at Mina's tent, but returns to a hotel in Makkah, especially those close to the congregation.

In further developments, the additional 20,000 quota received approval from the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah Saudi on January 8, 2024, with an allocation of 10,000 for special and 10,000 regular Hajj. This is stated in the MoU signed by the Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia and the Minister of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia. The MoU then became the basis for the Ministry of Religion in preparing services.

Receiving an additional quota of 20,000, said Hilman, would certainly make his party happy. However, it also requires the Ministry of Religion to think hard, starting from the congregation's departure scheme, to the preparation of services, both in the country and in the Holy Land. Moreover, the Ministry of Religion has never received an additional quota of up to 20,000. Previously, the Ministry of Religion had received an additional quota of 10,000 in 2019, and 8,000 in the 2023 hajj season.

"Then this year we got an additional 20,000 quota, plus challenging. We do a lot of simulations."