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Anies Baswedan promises better haj accessibility if elected
Anies Baswedan promises to cut haj costs and raise the quota if elected in 2024, focusing on affordability for Indonesia's Muslim community.
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Anies Baswedan, the former Jakarta governor who is running as a presidential candidate in next year's presidential election and his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar, who is the chairman of National Awakening Party (PKB), pose as they register themselves, at the General Elections Commission (KPU) headquarters in Jakarta on Oct. 19, 2023. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
Presidential candidate Anies Baswedan promised on Tuesday to reduce the cost of the haj and increase the haj pilgrim quota if elected president in 2024.
"At the moment, we are in discussions about it, one aspect being how to reduce the cost of the haj," Anies said, as quoted by Antara news agency during a campaign event in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.
The former Jakarta governor said the fact there were so many people waiting for a long time to perform the pilgrimage was one of the reasons behind the plan to reduce the cost.
"We are striving to increase this haj quota further, hopefully reaching 20,000 to 30,000 pilgrims [per year]," he said.
Anies acknowledged that the government had secured an additional quota for 2024.
The government had successfully lobbied for an additional 20,000 pilgrims from the allotted 221,000 pilgrims.
The pilgrim quota is roughly 0.1 percent of the country’s Muslim population.
