Haj visa cancellations spark concerns
Holy city: A picture showing the Mina camp as Muslim pilgrims arrive in Mecca for the annual haj pilgrimage. — AFP
Just as this year's haj season is set to enter its peak, concerns have emerged among Indonesian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and people back home of mismanagement following reports of illegal pilgrimage attempts and visa cancellations.
According to the Religious Affairs Ministry, all 203,149 Indonesian haj pilgrims, organised into 525 flight groups, have arrived in Mecca in batches by Sunday.
They are now entering a rest period to prepare physically and mentally for the peak of this year's haj season, which begins today with travel to Mount Arafat, followed by Muzdalifah and Mina.
'All Indonesian haj pilgrims are now in Mecca in a safe and healthy condition.
'This is a great achievement that we should be grateful for together,' the ministry's secretary-general, Kamaruddin Amin, said in Mecca on Sunday as quoted from a statement from his office.
For many Indonesians, the haj is a once-in-a-lifetime journey that typically comes after decades of waiting due to Saudi Arabia's quota system.
The wait times, however, have led some Indonesians to attempt the haj without proper visas.
This year, immigration officers at 14 departure points prevented about 1,080 people from leaving the country for Saudi without following official procedures.
However, some managed to slip through the cracks by entering Saudi Arabia either on a work visa or a tourist visa, instead of a haj visa.
As of May 15, 117 Indonesians had been deported for such violations.
In one such case, an Indonesian man was found dead of dehydration while attempting to return to Mecca illegally through the desert after initially being denied entry.
'Furoda' visa furore has also erupted back home after about 1,000 Indonesians were unable to depart for the haj because Saudi failed to issue the mujamalah visa, also known as furoda, reportedly causing hundreds of millions in losses for pilgrims and billions for travel providers.
The furoda visa is issued directly by the Saudi government and lies outside the Religious Affairs Ministry's official quota system.
It allows recipients to bypass long waiting times, but costs significantly more, reportedly anywhere between Rp 270 million (RM70,450) and Rp 1 billion (RM260,900). — The Jakarta Post/ANN
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