JAKARTA - Former Minister of Religion, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, stated that the allocation of the hajj quota was carried out solely based on the consideration of the safety of the pilgrims' lives, following his designation as a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the case of alleged corruption of the additional hajj quota 2023-2024.
"The only consideration I made when setting the quota distribution was hifdzun nafsi, maintaining the safety of the congregation's lives due to the limited space available in Saudi Arabia," said Yaqut at the South Jakarta District Court, Antara, Tuesday, February 24.
He emphasized that the allocation of the hajj quota was the jurisdiction of Saudi Arabia so that it was bound by the rules of the local government, not entirely the authority of the Indonesian government.
According to Yaqut, the case that ensnared him was a lesson for leaders to remain brave in making policies by considering the humanitarian aspect.
"We must not make our leaders afraid to take policies that are beneficial for the community, for the nation, and for the country. Indonesia cannot be built with leaders who are afraid," he said.
The first pretrial hearing for Yaqut was held on Tuesday at 10.30 WIB and was chaired by Judge Sulistyo Muhammad Dwi Putro. However, the KPK as the respondent was not present so that the trial was postponed until March 3, 2026.
KPK spokesman, Budi Prasetyo, said his party had requested a postponement because the KPK legal team was following four other pretrial hearings in parallel.
"KPK through the Legal Bureau has submitted a postponement for today's trial, considering that the team is concurrently following four other pretrial hearings," said Budi in Jakarta.
The four trials are related to the case of electronic identity cards, the Ministry of Agriculture, and two pretrial cases at the North Hulu Sungai Regency District Attorney's Office.
Previously, on August 9, 2025, the KPK began investigating a case of alleged corruption in determining quotas and organizing the 2023-2024 Hajj period at the Ministry of Religion. Two days later, the KPK announced that the initial calculation of state losses reached more than Rp. 1 trillion and prevented three people from traveling abroad for six months.
The three parties that were prevented were Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex, and Fuad Hasan Masyhur as the owner of the Maktour Hajj organizing bureau.
On January 9, 2026, the KPK named two of the three people as suspects, namely Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and Ishfah Abidal Aziz.
Yaqut then filed a pretrial application for the determination of the suspect to the South Jakarta District Court on February 10, 2026, which was registered with case number 19/Pid.Pra/2026/PN JKT.SEL.
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