Ministry Of Religion Strives For Additional Hajj Quota To Be Maximumly Absorbed

Director General of Hajj and Umrah at the Ministry of Religion Hilman Latief. (ANTARA/Nur Istibbsaroh)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) will strive so that an additional 8,000 hajj quotas can be fully absorbed, so that more and more Indonesian Hajj candidates can go to the Holy Land this year.

"We will try our best so that the quota is optimally absorbed," said Director General of Hajj and Umrah at the Ministry of Religion Hilman Latief as reported by ANTARA, Sunday, May 7.

Hilman said the available time was indeed limited, because the first flying group (cluter) pilgrims had started flying to Saudi Arabia on May 24, 2023.

However, all means will still be pursued because it will involve the departure queue. If the additional quota is absorbed, the queues for Indonesian Hajj candidates will also be cut little by little.

"Although not much, this year there is still time to prepare," he said.

According to Hilman, Indonesia has also received an additional quota of 10,000 people in 2022, but at that time it was not possible to follow up.

The reason is, the certainty of an additional quota will only be informed on June 21, 2022. Meanwhile, the deadline for the revision of regular Hajj candidates at that time was June 29, 2022, and the last flight (closing date) for pilgrims to depart from the country, July 3, 2022.

In 2019, Indonesia also received 10,000 additional quotas. However, the certainty of the additional quota was obtained in April 2019. Meanwhile, the departure of the first batch at that time was on July 5, 2019.

Previously, Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said Indonesia received an additional 8,000 quotas of Hajj candidates who have been included in the e-Hajj system today, the Saudi Arabian vision application.

Yaqut said the Ministry of Religion is currently still waiting for an official letter from Saudi Arabia regarding the addition of the quota and will immediately discuss it with the DPR.

In addition, the Ministry of Religion will also continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah of Saudi Arabia.