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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar asked the Saudi government to increase the quota for hajj pilgrim companions or hajj assistants for elderly, high-risk, and disabled Indonesian pilgrims. He conveyed this during the VIII Commission of the House of Representatives (DPR) meeting held on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
Nasaruddin strives to exceed the stipulated number of Indonesian hajj assistants, which is currently 2,000. "We also strive with the Saudi Arabian government so that the hajj assistants are not only around 2,000 as stipulated by international regulations," he said during the meeting held at the parliamentary building in Central Jakarta.
Based on his presentation, this year there is an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 elderly, high-risk, and disabled pilgrims.
The request for an additional quota for hajj assistants was directly conveyed by Nasaruddin to the Ministers of Hajj and Health of Saudi Arabia. He argued that the quota increase would ease the burden on the Saudi government.
"Our people are the ones who understand the language of our pilgrims, it is impossible for them to speak Arabic," said Nasaruddin. "I am very convinced that the increase in the quota for hajj assistants will alleviate the burden on the Saudi Arabian authorities and government itself."
Previously, Nasaruddin had communicated his lobby for the increase in the hajj assistant quota to the Saudi Arabian government. He spoke with the Minister of Health of Saudi Arabia, Fahad Abdulrahman Al-Jalajel, in a meeting at the Official Residence of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador in Jakarta on Monday, February 24, 2025.
"We implore for an increase in the number of our hajj assistants. Not only 2,000, but to be increased to 4,000, just like last year," he said, as quoted in a press release.
The Saudi Arabian government had previously decided to reduce the quota for hajj assistants by 50 percent in the 1446 Hijriah/2025 AD hajj season. In 2024, the number of Indonesian hajj assistants reached 4,200. With this reduction, only about 2,100 assistants will accompany pilgrims in 2025.
There are 221,000 Indonesian pilgrims who will depart for the hajj pilgrimage in 2025. According to the Ministry of Religious Affairs calculations, with 2,100 hajj assistants, the assistance ratio becomes 1 assistant per 100 pilgrims. Meanwhile, with the normal quota of 4,200 assistants, the ratio is 1 assistant for 50 pilgrims.
M Rizki Yusrial and Hanin Marwah contributed for this article.
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