Rejecting The Ministry Of Religion's Proposal, BPIH Panja Values The 2024 Hajj Fee Ideally IDR 95 Million

Rupiah (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Working Committee for the Cost of Organizing Hajj (Panja BPIH) of the DPR rejected the Ministry of Religion's (Kemenag) proposal to increase the cost of organizing Hajj in 2024 to Rp105 million per congregation. The DPR considers that ideally the cost of organizing the Hajj this year is below Rp95 million.

BPIH Panja Member John Kenedy Azis said his party rejected the Ministry of Religion's proposal regarding the cost of organizing the pilgrimage this year. The reason is, if you follow the Ministry of Religion's proposal, there will be an increase of Rp. 15 million from the cost of the 2023 Hajj pilgrimage.

"As we all know that the government has proposed a hajj departure fee of Rp. 105 million, there is an increase of around Rp. 15 million compared to the cost of Hajj travel in 2023," said John, met at the DPR Building, Parliament Complex, Wednesday, November 15.

"We from Panja BPIH reject what has been proposed," he continued.

John said ideally the cost of organizing the Hajj pilgrimage in 2024 is below Rp. 95 million or around Rp. 92 to Rp. 93 million.

"In the past, we have decided that the cost of the pilgrimage (2023) is IDR 90.50 million. For example, it is still below IDR 95 million or say IDR 92 million, I think IDR 93 million is quite tolerant," he said.

The increase in the cost of the pilgrimage, said John, has also taken into account the increase in the US dollar exchange rate against the rupiah.

"The cost of this pilgrimage is if it goes up, (hopefully) the increase will not be as significant as this. We do not apply there is an increase in the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar," he said.

Previously, the Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas emphasized that the proposal for the Hajj Implementation Fee (BPIH) submitted during yesterday's working meeting would still be discussed by the Working Committee (Panja) and then agreed and determined how much the 2024 Hajj costs would be.

"The principle is that the government has proposed a hajj fee. We propose a BPIH of IDR 105 million per congregation. This proposal will be used as material for discussion by the Panja to later agree on how much the Hajj costs will be in 2024," said Minister of Religion Yaqut in Jakarta, Tuesday.

Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah stipulates that BPIH is a number of funds used for the operation of organizing the pilgrimage.

Article 44 states that BPIH comes from the Hajj Travel Expenses (Bipih) that must be paid by prospective hajj participants, state revenue and expenditure budgets, benefit values, efficiency funds, and/or other legitimate sources based on the provisions of the legislation.

According to the Minister of Religion, there is something different in the proposed 2024 hajj fee scheme with previous years. The government in the DPR RI meeting yesterday only proposed the amount of the BPIH. The government no longer calculates the composition of the amount of Bipiah to be paid by pilgrims and the value of benefits.

The BPIH proposed by the government will then be discussed in more detail each component by the BPIH Working Committee. After the BPIH is agreed, it will only be calculated the composition of how much Bipiah is paid by pilgrims and how much comes from the value of the benefits," said Minister of Religion Yaqut.