Speaker: Minister of Religion Yaqut unable to fulfill invitation of Special Hajj Committee next week

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – A spokesman for the Ministry of Religion, Sunanto, said that the Minister of Religion (Menag), Ruby Cholil Quumas, he cannot be present if so Special Hajj Committee call next week. Yaqut is currently on the agenda to represent President Joko Widodo in France.

“The Minister (Yaqut) still represents the president in France,” said Sunanto when contacted, Saturday 21 September 2024.

Yaqut will do the President’s request Jokowi attended the 38th International Peace Conference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. This event is scheduled to take place on September 22, 2024.

Sunanto said it was this agenda that made Yaqut attend next week. Yaqut, Sunanto said, had also sent this letter to the Special Hajj Committee. “The Minister of Religion has sent a letter to the special committee,” said Sunanto.

Sunanto also denied allegations that Yaqut did not want to attend the invitation of the Special Hajj Committee. According to Sunanto, Yaqut was fulfilling state duties so that he could not be left.

“There is no desire not to come to the special committee, this is the duty of the state to represent the president,” said Sunanto.

Yaqut was not present at the invitation to the Special Hajj Committee on Thursday 19 September 2024. Yaqut was also not present at the invitation to the meeting on Tuesday 9 September 2024.

Before that, a member of the Special Haj Committee from the PKS group, Wisnu Wijaya, regretted the opinion of Yaqut Cholil Qoumas that he did not fulfill the invitation of the Special Haj Committee. In fact, the Special Hajj Committee prioritizes the principle of accepting the innocent. The special committee gave Yaqut an opportunity to explain.

“In fact, the special Hajj committee gave the opportunity to the Minister of Religion to voice several allegations of irregularities related to the transfer of additional Hajj quotas,” Wisnu said when contacted, Saturday 21 September 2024 .

Notice

Vishnu said that the Special Hajj Committee had not yet decided to bring back Yaqut. Yaqut’s call will be decided at a special committee meeting within Hajj on Monday 23 September.

The DPR agreed to establish a special Hajj committee in the 21st full session of the V session, Tuesday, 9 July 2024.

This special committee was confirmed after a member of Commission VIII DPR RI, Selly Andriany Gantina, read the reasons for the establishment of the special committee for Hajj. At least 35 members of the DPR RI consisting of more than two groups have agreed to form a special committee to investigate the violations of Hajj 2024.

One of the problems that will be investigated by the special committee is the issue of the distribution of Hajj quotas that are not in accordance with Law Number 8 of 2019 regarding the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah. Article 64 paragraph 2 states that the special hajj quota is set at 8 percent of Indonesia’s hajj quota.

The working committee of Commission VIII and the Minister of Religion had first decided the costs of organizing Hajj 2024 (BPIH) on 27 November 2023. They approved the Indonesian Hajj quota of 241,000 pilgrims with a breakdown of 221,720 regular Hajj pilgrims.

This quota includes additional quotas as a result of the Indonesian government’s lobbying of Saudi Arabia, which provided an additional 20 thousand pilgrims. From the results of the agreement, the Hajj 2024 budget was also set at IDR 8.3 trillion. However, halfway through, the Ministry of Religion provided an additional 20,000 quota with details of 50 percent for regular Hajj and 50 percent for special Hajj. As a result, the special Hajj quota is actually higher than the 8 percent limit as specified by law.

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