TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Secretary General of Indonesian Association of Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI), Muhammad Jafar Hafsah, said that the government needs to make a breakthrough in addressing hajj problem.
He said that Indonesian Hajj arrested in the Philippines was not a good sign. “It happened because hajj management is not well addressed," Jafar said Monday, August 29, 2016.
Previously, as many as 185 hajj pilgrims from Indonesia were caught in Ninoy Aquino Airport, using the Philippine passport.
Jafar said that the religious affair ministry should cut the waiting list. "It needs special treatment by adding the hajj quota," he said Jafar.
He added that Indonesia, as the biggest Muslim-majority country in the world, has a relatively small quota.
Following Masjid al-Haram renovation, a hajj pilgrim will have to wait up to 30 years to depart to Mecca - a massive set back from what has been 10 to 20 years.
MAYA AYU PUSPITASARI
