Commission VIII Of The House Of Representatives Agrees To Increase Hajj Costs Of IDR 232 Billion Not Charged To Prospective Congregants

Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII DPR RI Ace Hasan Syadzily (Photo: Nailin In Saroh/VOI)

JAKARTA - Commission VIII of the DPR RI has agreed not to charge the 2023 Hajj Implementation Fee (BPIH) to 2023 prospective pilgrims. Previously, the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas proposed adding BPIH 2023 amounting to Rp232.9 billion. Deputy Chairman of Commission VIII DPR RI Ace Hasan Syadzily, explained that the addition of Hajj costs occurred because the Ministry of Religion was wrong in inputting the number of prospective pilgrims. So that it will not become a burden for the congregation. "We agreed that it was not borne by the congregation, it was not the congregation's fault. It was actually the fault of the Ministry of Religion itself," said Ace at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, March 28. Ace said that later the additional Hajj costs of Rp. 232 billion would be taken from the value of the benefits of Hajj managed by BPKH. He hopes that the remaining value of the benefits of Rp. 9 trillion will be sufficient to cover the shortage. "Hopefully it is available, because the burden on the value of the benefits of accumulation of the actual value of benefits is still around Rp. 9 trillion," said Ace. Even so, the West Java electoral district Golkar legislator reminded BPKH that the value of the benefits of Hajj be managed properly. So according to Ace, the value of these benefits does not need to be allocated for this year's Hajj season. "You have to think about it too, isn't it the Ministry of Religion itself that says there needs to be sustainability of Hajj finance and justice for the value of benefits?", said Ace. Previously, Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas proposed additional costs for organizing the 2023 Hajj pilgrimage amounting to Rp232.9 billion. Yaqut said this cost was very much needed to cover the shortage of Hajj Travel Expenses (Bipih) from 91,789 prospective pilgrims who were paid off for the 2020-2022 delay which will depart this year. According to him, the previously agreed costs were only the congregation paid off for the 2020 delay which did not add Bipih. Meanwhile, for the congregation to pay off the 2022 delay, they have to pay an average payment of Rp9.4 million. “After the verification process was carried out, the congregation paid off the 2022 delay, basically the congregation paid off the 2020 delay. In total there were 8,306 pilgrims. So, they also don't need to increase the repayment fee and the budget is taken from the value of the benefits. We propose this to Commission VIII DPR,” said Yaqut, Monday, March 27. Yaqut explained, the initial data of the congregation paid off for the 2020 delay amounted to 84,609 people. On its way, as of March 7, 2023, there were 218 pilgrims who canceled their departures and 901 pilgrims who took the payment fee back. Thus, the number is now 83,490 pilgrims. "If you add 8,306 (2022 congregation), the total number of pilgrims will be paid off by 2020 to 91,796 people. We propose an additional fee from the value of the benefits to close the 8,306 pilgrims worth Rp232,914,366,344," explained Yaqut. "This proposal will be discussed together between the Directorate General of Hajj and Umrah, the Hajj Financial Management Agency, and Commission VIII of the DPR," he added.