T

he annual haj pilgrimage began last Friday with the departure of the first group of flights (known in local terms as kloter) of Indonesian pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The pilgrimage is mandatory at least once in their lifetime for all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the religious journey.

This is the umpteenth organization of the haj by the government. A massive presence of Indonesian pilgrims in the Saudi kingdom, however, has been recorded since the early 19th century.

Despite decades of experience in haj management, there have been problems reported throughout the history of its organization. Apart from the continuing controversy surrounding the lengthy government-organized pilgrimage of 40 days (compared with the maximum three-week-long journey practiced by many other countries or offered by private-run haj operators), there is one major problem that Indonesia has been enduring and has not yet been able to solve: the continuously increasing number of would-be haj pilgrims put on the waiting list.

Year by year, the period of waiting continues to protract as more and more Indonesians become financially capable of performing the haj, thanks to the '€œease'€ provided by the '€œbank-saving plan'€ for the candidate pilgrims. Under the plan, they need not deposit a certain amount of money '€” a prerequisite set by the government '€” in order for them to be registered as eligible candidate pilgrims, but only pay the monthly installment as it is the banks that will cover the deposit money for them.

Worse, the waiting list has become longer in the past few years because of the ongoing renovation and expansion of the Masjidil Haram grand mosque '€” the center of gravity for Muslims in all their religious rituals '€” which is expected to be completed at the end of next year.

In the past, problems included a poor quality of caterers hired to provide food to pilgrims throughout the haj period as well as poor accommodation for them. In many cases, the poor quality of catering services was a result of a lack of experience in managing a huge event such as the haj. Meanwhile, complaints were often aired at insufficient lodging for the pilgrims.

Health concerns also confront the pilgrims given the new surge of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), which has now infected more than 1,100 people, 486 of whom have died.

While many of those problems have been resolved, this year'€™s pilgrimage organization is seeing a considerably serious problem of mismanagement in the departure of the pilgrims. National media have been reporting dozens of cases of delays in departure.

The Religious Affairs Ministry has given an assurance that those affected by the flight delays will leave for Mecca for the pilgrimage anyway. The problem is that many of them are traveling with their relatives or family members.

While flight delays may be simple and easy to handle, a new predicament awaits the pilgrims. They may have to perform the haj separately from their loved ones, a fact that they may have never expected.