18 hours ago
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January 8, 2025 | 10:57 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chair of the Indonesian House of Representatives' (DPR) Religious Affairs Commission Marwan Dasopang said that President Prabowo Subianto plans to visit Saudi Arabia at the end of January 2025. He hopes that the state visit will be an opportunity for President Prabowo to lobby the Saudi Arabian leader to increase Indonesia's hajj quota.
Marwan said that Indonesia needs an additional quota to resolve the problem of the excessively long waiting list in several regions. "We hope that he will arrive in Saudi and meet the King there who will determine whether the quota can be increased or not," said Marwan during a press conference at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Tuesday, January 7, 2025.
The House of Representatives' Religious Affairs Commission's Hajj Cost Working Committee came to the Palace to report directly to President Prabowo the reduction in the 2025 Hajj Pilgrimage Cost (BPIH) to Rp89.4 million and the reduction in the Hajj Pilgrimage Travel Cost (Bipih) to Rp55.4 million per person.
Compared to 2024, the decrease in BPIH in 2025 will reach around Rp4 million, while for Bipih it will be Rp600,000.
In the meeting, which lasted for more than 2 hours, the Hajj Costs Committee of Commission VIII of the DPR also revealed the problem of the excessively long waiting time for the hajj in several regions. For example, in South Sulawesi, there is a district with a hajj waiting period of over 49 years. "It's quite difficult to unravel this, if they wait for the waiting list, they might die too soon," said Marwan.
He said that the excessively long waiting list affects the psychology of prospective hajj participants, considering that the number reaches 5 million pilgrims. "There are already those who feel anxious that they will not be able to go on the hajj because they are elderly and not healthy. They even feel that they will not be old enough to leave for the departure," he said.
He considered that the additional hajj quota of 5,000-10,000 people, if successfully accepted by Indonesia, would be very encouraging news for prospective hajj participants.
"He welcomed it and he will schedule the trip. Of course, the pilgrims and we in Commission VIII hope that the President will convey this to the Saudi side at the meeting," continued Marwan.
Apart from the additional quota, Marwan revealed that the DPR is also exploring other strategies to resolve the long waiting list for Hajj departures, including Indonesia working together with friendly countries, especially those that still have remaining Hajj quotas.
"Later we might revise the Hajj Law so that we can send pilgrims, maybe together with friendly countries that have not used up their quotas," said the Chair of Commission VIII of the DPR.
He said that the Saudi Arabian Government has set the quota for Indonesian hajj departing for the holy land in 2025 at 221,000 people.
Minister of Religion Nasaruddin Umar in a meeting with Commission VIII of the DPR in Jakarta, on December 30, 2024, also mentioned the same number. Of that number, Nasaruddin said that 2,210 of them were Indonesian hajj officers.
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