The House of Representatives' team monitoring the haj in Saudi Arabia says that based on its observation, Indonesian pilgrims were subject to hardships they should not have encountered.
The team members said Wednesday the problems they had found mostly related to accommodation, transport and sanitary issues.
They also urged the Religious Affairs Ministry to replace its Haj Pilgrimage Director General Slamet Riyanto, because the issues were an ongoing problem, however, no resolution had been proposed.
"If the director general does not have the capacity to properly manage a haj program, then he must be replaced," team member Muhammad Oheo Sinapoy from the Golkar Party said.
"We hope his future replacement will be more competent in managing the haj and dealing with issues."
One of the issues the team found was unsuitable accommodation, for instance there was only one bathroom for 25 pilgrims to use.
In that particular accommodation, an elderly pilgrim could not hold his bladder any longer due to a long queue for the bathroom, the team said.
Some of the elderly pilgrims were reportedly not mentally fit to participate in the pilgrimage. The team also found seven pilgrims who were more than 70-years-old had serious health conditions
Another issue was an inefficient transport system.
The team said Indonesian pilgrims departed late from Madinah to Mecca because transport did not run on time.
"Not only that, we also found a number of shelters did not have sufficient water supply," Muhammad said.
"In order for pilgrims to undertake the program, they must be able to cleanse properly before praying.
"How can anyone wash without a sufficient water supply, let alone taking a bath or *answering to nature's call'?" he asked.
Another team member, M. Arwam Thomafi, from the United Development Party (PPP), said the team witnessed overcrowding in the pilgrimages' respective dormitories due to lack of space.
"The claim from the Religious Affairs Ministry that said congestion did not exist in dormitories was a lie.
"We saw congestion.
"Some pilgrims had to sleep in two-times-three meter square rooms.
"This contrasts the agreed standard that a pilgrim must be given a room with a dimension of at least three-times-four square meters," he said.
The team also found that most of the dormitories were located on the outer ring of the Kaaba.
Only 37 percent of the dormitories were located within the inner ring of the Kaaba.
This finding contradicts the original design and regulation that stipulates 75 percent of pilgrim dormitories must be located near the Kaaba, the team said.
Muhammad and Arwam were two of 11 legislators sent to Saudi Arabia to monitor the haj from Nov. 10 to Nov. 17.
