Ministry Of Religion: Prospective Hajj Delays Don't Mean Cancel Departure

Director of Domestic Hajj Services of the Ministry of Religion Saiful Mujab. (ANTARA/HO-Kemenag)

JAKARTA - Director of Domestic Hajj Services of the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) Saiful Mujab emphasized that pilgrims whose departures have been delayed do not mean that they have canceled their departure to the Holy Land. The statement was conveyed in response to reports from pilgrims whose departures were delayed in several embarkations. "We make sure that the delayed pilgrims do not mean they will cancel their departure. We will fly them to the Holy Land after all the conditions that are prerequisites for departure have been met," said Saiful Mujab in Jakarta, Antara, Friday, June 2. Saiful Mujab explained that there were several things that caused the postponement of the departure of the congregation, including that the health prerequisites had not been fulfilled and the immigration requirements had not been completed, such as the issuance of the Hajj visa. If the congregation is delayed due to health factors, he said, then efforts are sought to recover first and will depart for the next batch. "Because of certain health problems, it is impossible to be flown in the running cluster. There must be a recovery first. Now, later we will try to be able to leave in the next batch," said Saiful Mujab. Likewise for those who are delayed due to the not yet issuance of the Hajj visa. "Currently, the process is a bio visa that is carried out independently. They have to record their faces and fingerprints from their respective gadgets," he said. He said the Ministry of Religion found that many participants of the pilgrimage had experienced obstacles so that until the time the group had to leave their visas had not been issued.

"As a result, their departure was delayed not together with the determined batch. Now, we will wait. Until the visa is issued, we will depart with the next batch. Remember, it is delayed, it does not mean that you will not leave," said Saiful Mujab.