The DPR Hajj Special Committee Calls There Is A Data Disadvantage In Special Hajj Departure

Illustration of Hajj from Indonesia (ANTARA)

Member of the Special Committee for Hajj Angkat DPR RI Wisnu Wijaya said that his party found a number of discrepancies regarding the departure of special Hajj pilgrims by the PIHK. This was revealed after the special committee dug up the statements of witnesses from the PIHK element on Monday, September 2.

"This finding is based on data obtained from previous witnesses, namely from elements of the Ministry of Religion and clarifications carried out on several PIHKs that dispatched large numbers of special Hajj pilgrims," said Wisnu to reporters, Wednesday, September 4.

Wisnu explained that from the data obtained, approximately 3,500 special Hajj pilgrims were identified without going through the proper waiting period, namely the zero (0) year waiting period. According to him, this finding confirms the information provided by the Director of Special Hajj and Umrah Development of the Ministry of Religion.

"Several PIHKs claim that this year's zero departure data (0) has been provided by the Ministry of Religion, then the PIHK is asked to verify with prospective pilgrims. While others say that this data comes from internal PIHK," he explained.

This member of Commission VIII of the DPR revealed that the special committee also highlighted allegations of manipulation of the management of the Integrated Hajj Computerization System (Siskohat).

"We found that there were pilgrims registered with Siskohat with a departure schedule supposed to be in 2026, but instead departed in 2024. Given that the number of queues for special pilgrims reached almost 200 thousand with a waiting period of 6 to 7 years, this practice is clearly not in accordance with applicable regulations," he said.

This, continued Wisnu, raises allegations of data manipulation in Siskohat. Therefore, the DPR RI Hajj Special Committee will conduct an inspection of the Office of the Data and Information Management System for the Implementation of Integrated Hajj (SISKOHAT) today.

"Whether the party playing is the operator, or there are individuals who order the operator, or there are other parties who change through the back door, this is what we are investigating and we hope that there will be an evaluation related to the management of this system in the future," said Wisnu.

Wisnu added, on Tuesday, September 3, yesterday, the Special Committee had also brought in a special prospective pilgrim to obtain testimony from him.

There is also a case where a special pilgrim candidate is offered an initial price of USD 15,000, but ahead of departure, he was asked to pay approximately USD 29,500. When the congregation who resigned due to this additional cost burden was re-examined at Siskohat, strangely their departure status changed, which should have been able to depart in 2030 to 2032. Then after a complaint changed to 2031," explained Wisnu.

Members of the DPR for the Central Java electoral district I stated that the situation showed negligence in data management which had a negative impact on prospective pilgrims.

"So a forensic audit of this system is needed," he concluded.