Ministry Of Religion Speeds Up Preparations For The Implementation Of The 2024 Hajj

Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. (ANTARA/HO-MCH)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Religion will accelerate preparations for the implementation of the Hajj pilgrimage 1445 Hijri/2024 AD in line with the announcement of the hajj quota and its stages.

Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said the acceleration carried out by Saudi Arabia must be responded to immediately. Moreover, the end of the congregation's vision period is also earlier or long before the departure phase.

"If we compare it with this year's Hajj, two days before closing date, we can still do the vision. Well, next year, almost two months before closing date, there is no longer a vision process. That means, the process will run faster," said the Minister of Religion as reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 7th.

Previously, the Government of Saudi Arabia announced the 2024 Indonesian Hajj quota of 221,000 people. This number is the same as the one for this year's Hajj.

The Saudi government also announced the preparation stages starting September 16, 2023. Meanwhile, the vision process will end on April 29, 2024, or about 10 days before the opening of the departure phase.

"We have discussed related to obstacles, risks, and opportunities that we might be able to get with this acceleration," said Yaqut.

According to the Minister of Religion, the acceleration process will begin with the completion of the financial report on the implementation of the Hajj in 1444 H. So far, the preparation period for the report is 60 days, starting from the end of the Hajj operation.

"I ask that a maximum of one month must be completed. So, you don't have to wait until two months. One month after the financial report, we will report it to the DPR so that we can start discussing Hajj next year," said the Minister of Religion.

Meanwhile, discussions with the DPR need to be immediately discussed. Because there is one obstacle that must be understood by all parties, namely the fundamental difference in calendar calculations.

The government of Saudi Arabia uses the Hijri calendar, while Indonesia uses the AD calendar. So, the financial cycle is different.

"Well, in my opinion, this is a serious challenge, how this financial cycle that we have has to adjust the Hijri calendar used here. This means that discussions related to the implementation of the pilgrimage must begin as early as possible," he said.

Discussion with Commission VIII of the DPR is also expected to accelerate the agreement on the Cost of Organizing Hajj (BPIH) 1445 Hijri/2024 AD.

If there is a BPIH decision, the payment stage can be opened immediately and the preparation of documents can also be done immediately.

"The Ministry of Religion is planning the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the 2024 Hajj service, especially in the document verification process. So, the process is faster," said the Minister of Religion.