The final batches of the 2009 haj leave around the end of this month, and so the year 2010 will be the right time for the government, in this case the religious affairs ministry, to prepare an accountability report as mandated in the 1999 presidential instruction and altogether evaluate the implementation of the country's future haj management.
As a result of the inefficient management of this year's haj, as well as many years previously, observers proposed the haj management be handed over to the private sector.
The problems faced by the pilgrims came to the fore when a legislative team found out about the hardships suffered by the country's pilgrims.
Among others were: poor accommodation, inefficient transportation systems and overcrowded dormitories. What makes things even worse was that each dormitory for 25 was provided with only one bathroom, making life difficult.
There are plenty of things the ministry could do instead of managing the haj. It has the great and noble task of nurturing the populace to become more religious and moral, binding Indonesians either from Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist or other faiths, in a sense, by taking part in building up Indonesian human resources.
To mention just a few, in education, it can help improve the quality of teaching in the secondary and tertiary schools that it is responsible for, in order to be competitive with other public shools.
Evidence shows that the level of examination passes in the national exams (UAN) is much lower than those of the public schools.
No wonder that participants from religious shools or madrassa are left behind in almost all national science olympics.
In social matters, it can help settle religious or ethnic conflicts which once involved almost all people in regions like Ambon, Poso and Central Kalimantan.
As far as the role of the ministry in those conflicts is concerned, it was almost never heard of. If similar conflicts in the future breakout (not that we expect any) the ministry should be proactive and take the lead to help resolve the matter.
Handing over the haj management to another institution, means there is a need to revise the vision and mission of the ministry in order that it can focus more on human morality, shaping people to be religious, intelligent, professional, transparent and accountable Indonesians.
Of course, it needs a paradigm and mindset shift, particularly from the high-ranking officials of the ministry, because they have been accustomed to managing the pilgrimage over the years.
As a comparison, we can look at how Malaysia handles its haj management.
The haj management in that country is carried out by an institution called the Haj Deposit Agency (Lembaga Tabung Haji) and comes under the Prime Minister's Office, and therefore, its accountibility is to the Prime Minister.
The cost of Malaysia's ONH is lower than that of Indonesia's. The Malaysian pilgrims (in 2005) paid Rp 21.5 million (approx. US$2,200) and received a better service, when in Indonesia it cost Rp 26.2 million (US$2,900) per person.
The most important thing is that Malaysian pilgrims perform the pilgrimage for only for 28 days, unlike their Indonesians counterparts, including public servants, who need to take leave from work for 40 days.
Other important thing is that in Malaysia, its pilgrims need to deposit only for Rp 2.5 million, or a little more than 10 percent, as the first payment, and the rest is paid in installments over the year. In Indonesia, each pilgrims has to deposit Rp 20 million (in 2005), or about 80 percent, as the deposit, with the rest in installments over the year.
The ball is now in the ministry's court to decide, as it is the right time since the reform era was launched in 1998, with good governance playing the key role. As David Osborne and Ted Gaebler point out in their book (1992) Reinventing Government: How the Entrepreneural Spirit is Tranforming the Public Sector, the government is not supposed to be rowing (its boat), but instead, steering it in order to give opportunities for the rowers (the private sector).
It's in line with Eko Prasojo's opinion that the government can still supervise the implementation of the pilgrimage when one day the haj management is handed over to private sector.
M. Rusdi
Jakarta
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