Ma'ruf Amin: Fast Track Hajj Service is Saudi Arabia's Special Offer to Indonesia

TEMPO.CO, Boyolali - Indonesian Vice President Ma'ruf Amin said that the Makkah Route fast track service for prospective hajj pilgrims signifies a distinctive privilege extended by Saudi Arabia. This year, the service is available at three hajj departure airports: Jakarta, Surabaya, and Solo.

“This is special treatment from the Saudi Arabian government. We are given special treatment because the of close and amicable relationship between Indonesia and Saudi,” Ma'ruf told reporters at Adi Soemarmo Airport in Solo, Boyolali Regency, Central Java, after reviewing the service on Friday, May 31.

He assessed that the service benefits would-be pilgrims by shortening the document inspection process. “If [the inspection] is done in Jeddah, there will be a queue, not to mention that pilgrims are already exhausted from a nine-hour flight and it takes five hours. But if it is done here, it will take at most five minutes per person. This is an extraordinary convenience for Indonesian hajj pilgrims, even though it is only in three embarkation points,” he explained.

Ma'ruf further stressed the government’s commitment to providing better hajj service from year to year, including health services in Saudi Arabia. “That’s the government’s effort to improve hajj services.”

In addition to the fast track service, Ma'ruf said Indonesia is granted an additional quota of 20,000 hajj pilgrims. He also hoped that in next year’s hajj season, the number of both airports providing fast-track services and hajj pilgrim quotas could be further expanded. “Because the waiting time here [in Indonesia] is up to 50 years,” Ma’ruf Amin said.

SEPTIA RYANTHIE

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