Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Said Agil Al Munawar is under fire after the government admitted errors and cancelled bookings for 30,000 Muslims who had registered to undertake the haj next month.

In September, Mr Munawar had announced that Saudi Arabia would take additional pilgrims from Indonesia, above the country's 205,000 existing allotment. It emerged later the number of approved pilgrims had not been changed. Several major Muslim organisations including the influential Indonesian Muslim Students Association (HMI) have held demonstrations in the past two weeks criticising Mr Munawar.

Some have demanded his resignation, a move the minister has flatly rejected. Watchdog and consumer groups have also entered the fray, with demands for the revamping of the entire system for the annual pilgrimage, a process which at this point is largely monopolised by Mr Munawar's ministry.

The announcement in September was great news for people like Mr Bustam Zahri, a 50-year-old trader from Central Java, who rushed to put down a full payment of $5,500 for the trip. He started making preparations.

But Mr Bustam and many others like him have become victims of bureaucratic bungling. Although public announcements about the cancellation for the 30,000 extra pilgrims started appearing in mid-December, he still has not officially and directly heard from the ministry.

'I paid money and got my hopes up. I told relatives I would be going. This is a big deal. But the minister was uncaring enough to tell us through a public broadcast that I can't go. He should resign from his job,' he said.

And it remains unclear whether he and the other would-be pilgrims would get their cash back, or whether the government will simply keep the money and assign them priority placements for the 2005 haj season.

Government officials told The Straits Times that Jakarta was still lobbying to get Saudi Arabia to take more pilgrims, and that was why no decision had been made on compensating the disappointed candidates.

Vice-President Hamzah Haz, himself a leader of a large Muslim-based party, has come out in Mr Munawar's defence, saying it is not the minister's fault that Saudi Arabia is 'being stubborn' about its quota to Indonesia.

But Parliamentary Speaker Akbar Tandjung said last weekend that Mr Munawar should have gotten confirmation from the Saudis before telling Indonesians that more of them could go to the haj.

But Mr Zaim Ukhrowi of the haj watchdog group Maslahat Haji, said Mr Munawar's ministry should not act as a travel agent for the Indonesians who go on the haj.

'If we privatise the process, costs would go down, and pilgrims would get much better flights and accommodation and other arrangements,' he said.