Coordinating Minister For Human Development And Culture: 17 Thousand Indonesian Hajj Candidates Have Administrative Problems

Prospective Indonesian Hajj pilgrims undergo briefing ahead of their departure to the Holy Land. (ANTARA/HO-Ministry of Health).

JAKARTA - The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy reported that around 17,000 Indonesian Hajj candidates were suspected of having administrative problems in the registration process for their departure to Saudi Arabia.

"There is a possibility that there will be a registration problem for around 17,000 hajj candidates. We will resolve that," said Muhadjir Effendy as reported by Antara, Thursday, May 19.

He said the administrative issues in question, one of which relates to the provisions for the COVID-19 vaccination, which are currently required by the Saudi Arabian Government.

The Ministry of Health noted that only about 76 percent of Hajj candidates who will depart this year have received a complete dose of COVID-19 vaccination.

According to Muhadjir, the complete dose of COVID-19 vaccination is one of the main requirements for sending prospective pilgrims from Indonesia. So that prospective pilgrims who have not been vaccinated with the full dose are threatened not to be sent.

"Yes, if the vaccine has not been canceled (departed). That is a provision from the Saudi Arabian government," he said.

Therefore, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture together with the Ministry of Health has combed through one by one prospective hajj pilgrims to ensure they have received a complete dose of vaccination.

"So I don't know the numbers for the vaccines for prospective Hajj candidates, but what is clear is that there is only the first vaccine, there is the second vaccine, but there is a booster. We will complete that together with the Minister of Health. We will investigate later in areas that have not been vaccinated. ," he said.

There are three conditions for the Hajj journey that have been determined by the Government of Saudi Arabia, namely the minimum complete vaccine COVID-19 vaccination requirements, PCR 72 hours before departure and the maximum age requirement is under 65 years.

Launching the kemenag.go.id page, the number of quotas for Indonesian Hajj in 2022 is 100,051 people with 1,901 officers.