Tiarma Siboro and A. Junaidi – Rampant corruption, including price markups, at the Ministry of Religious Affairs involved many officials, businesspeople, politicians and foreigners, a respected Muslim leader alleged on Monday.

Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said that reforms within the ministry required extra effort from all parties, including lawmakers, non-governmental organizations and the press.

"Some say that rampant corruption and markups are developed by an expansive network involving officials at home and certain parties overseas. That is what we call a conspiratorial syndicate.

"We need to get serious about cleaning up such appalling behavior, including a clear concept on how to manage the pilgrimage for Indonesian Muslims," Hasyim remarked during a press conference at NU headquarters in Central Jakarta.

His made the statement after reading a recent report by Government Watch (Gowa), an NGO concerned with crimes and irregularities committed by state officials.

Hasyim doubted, however, that the private sector would be able to handle the haj pilgrimage professionally – as some have recently suggested – saying that the government had once delegated the matters to private firms and similar problems still took place.

The government handed over the management of the special minor haj, with about 15,000 people, to a private firm two years ago, but later dropped the firm after the organizers failed to carry out their duties properly.

This year, some 30,000 haj pilgrims, mostly under the ONH Plus arrangement, were not able to go to Mecca despite promises from the government, that it would grant a higher quota. Indonesia's quota stood at 205,000 people this year.

Meanwhile, Gowa chairman Farid Faqih, seemed a bit confused as to what constituted corruption, saying "those involved are just manipulating people to pay more than what is required." "I have data from the Supreme Audit Agency showing the financial report of the ministry of religious affairs. We are still studying the report to determine whether criminal corruption took place.

"One thing is certain, and that is the officials and other parties have manipulated Indonesian pilgrims by making them pay expenses exceeding the normal costs," Farid added.

He was referring to various items that the Indonesian pilgrims should have, and thus have to pay for, such as a special bracelet, airplane tickets and accommodation in Mecca.

Separately, the ministry's haj information office head Nunun Firdaus denied any responsibility for the markups, saying the prices were decided in conjunction with the government and the House of Representatives.

"We do not decide the costs alone. They have been calculated thoroughly and jointly decided by the government and the House," Nunun told The Jakarta Post.

He agreed with Hasyim's statement, saying that handing over the haj management to the private sector or an independent body would worsen the situation.

He claimed that the government had no vested interests in managing the haj pilgrimage.