Arientha Primanita – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali said on Wednesday that a moratorium on the registration of applicants for the hajj threatened to push pilgrimage costs higher.
The ministry is trying to find ways to ensure that hajj funds deposited by would-be pilgrims are not misappropriated. "The consequence of a moratorium is that the cost of the pilgrimage can become more expensive and the process more complicated," Suryadharma said.
He said he anticipated that reforms to the system employed by the ministry would make it easier to inform hajj applicants of when they would leave for the hajj once they had deposited funds.
With the world's largest Muslim population, Indonesia has seen growing numbers of people requesting to make the annual holy pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The demand has forced Saudi officials to impose a quota on the nation since the 1970s, with last year's quota set at 211,000 people. By June 2011, however, 1,420,915 people in Indonesia had registered for the trip.
With such a long waiting list, many hopeful pilgrims have had to miss out on the hajj for years. In some provinces, such as Aceh, pilgrims have waited up to 11 years to perform the religious rite, delays that have paved the way for corruption and fraud.
In October, police in Banten arrested three officials from the Religious Affairs Ministry who allegedly took money from Muslims who were hoping to get a spot this year.
Dozens of people allegedly paid the officials up to Rp 50 million ($5,600) each, excluding the actual fare for the trip. Last year's price was set by the government at about $3,500, almost $200 more than in 2010.
This year, the quota is set at 221,000 pilgrims from Indonesia. Suryadharma said the interest from the money deposited by applicants could be used to improve the services offered to the pilgrims. He added that the ministry would discuss the costs with the House of Representatives, and that the process would be audited by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).
Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Busyro Muqqodas had earlier called for a moratorium on the registration process, saying it was prone to graft.
On Tuesday, he said the ministry needed to take lessons from Malaysia's management of its hajj pilgrims. He added that as of February, more than 1.4 million Indonesians had applied to go on the hajj, with deposits totaling Rp 38 trillion.
[Additional reporting by Ezra Sihite.]