House Unveils Findings on Alleged Abuse of Authority during 2024 Hajj

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A member of the Special Committee for Hajj Inquiry (Pansus Haji), Wisnu Wijaya, said the committee found several alleged abuses of the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ authorities during the 2024 Hajj implementation. The special committee learned about the findings through witness testimonies, including special Hajj pilgrims who departed without a queue.

“The Hajj Special Committee found as many as 3,500 special Hajj pilgrims who departed with 0-year waiting time,” Wisnu said in a release on Tuesday, September 10, 2024.

The Hajj Special Committee also found alleged data manipulation in the Integrated Hajj Computerized System (Siskohat). “Some were forwarded while others were delayed which raised the suspicion of illegitimate transactions,” Wisnu said.

Data reporting for special Hajj pilgrims did not run in real-time, so Hajj departure data was often late or incomplete. “Even after the Hajj operations were completed, some Special Hajj Organizing Committees still have not reported the number of pilgrims who departed. This causes uncertainties about how many pilgrims departed for Hajj,” he said.

Even further, the Hajj Special Committee also found that the proposal for an additional special hajj quota came from the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, not Saudi Arabia.  

The ministry evenly divided the 20,000 additional quota between the regular Hajj pilgrims and the special Hajj pilgrims. According to the special committee, this was a breach of regulation as only 8 percent of the total Hajj quota was allocated for special Hajj pilgrims.

The Hajj Special Committee also found that there were no clear regulations regarding quota settlement so only pilgrims with access to information and resources have benefits over other pilgrims, namely regarding the acceleration of departure.

Finally, the committee highlighted the inadequacy of the supervision carried out by the Ministry of Religious Affairs regarding special Hajj. The Special Hajj Organizing Committee often failed to report pilgrim departures on time and there were no clear sanctions for this non-compliance.

DPR and the Ministry of Religious Affairs had initially set the 2024 Hajj Pilgrimage Management Costs (BPIH) on November 27, 2023. They agreed on an Indonesian Hajj quota of 241,000 pilgrims with details of 221,720 regular Hajj pilgrims. 

This quota includes an additional quota resulting from the Indonesian government's lobbying of Saudi Arabia, which provided an additional 20,000 pilgrims. However, the Ministry of Religious Affairs then allocated an additional 20,000 quotas, when 10,000 were allocated for special Hajj. As a result, the special hajj quota actually exceeded the 8 percent limit as stipulated by law.

Responding to this, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Anna Hasbie, confirmed that 3,503 pilgrims registered and immediately departed for special Hajj this year. 

"We are being transparent. We submitted data on 3,503 zero-year pilgrims to the Special Committee on Hajj Inquiry,” said Anna in an official statement, on Monday, September 9, 2024. 

According to Anna, thousands of zero-year pilgrims paid off the Hajj fee while the ministry was filling the remaining Hajj quota from February 19 to June 2024. 

Anna explained that the special hajj quota is divided into two, namely 16,305 main quotas and 9,222 additional quotas. The stage I to fulfill the main quota was opened on December 12-15, 2023. This stage is intended for pilgrims with three criteria.

First, the Hajj pilgrims paid in full last year but their departure was delayed. There are 2,322 people in this category. Second, the hajj pilgrims who were entitled to pay in full this year, with 13,806 pilgrims. Third, the prioritized elderly pilgrims, 177 in total.

HENDRIK YAPUTRA

Editor’s Choice: 2024 Hajj Implementation Better Than Previous Year, MPR Deputy Speaker Says      

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News