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View all search resultsPrabowo orders shorter wait times for Indonesian pilgrims
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Pilgrims walk to their gate on April 22 before heading to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to perform the annual haj pilgrimage, at Juanda International Airport in Sidoarjo, East Java. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has praised the country’s 2026 haj management but called for further improvements, including better services and shorter wait times for pilgrims.
Prabowo made the remark in a closed-door meeting with Haj and Umrah Minister Mochamad Irfan Yusuf and his deputy Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak and members of House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs at his residence in Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday.
Speaking after the meeting, Irfan said Prabowo was satisfied with this year’s haj, the first to be managed under the haj ministry after its separation from the Religious Affairs Ministry last year, despite some remaining challenges.
Irfan said his office had managed to accelerate preparations since its creation in September 2025, several months after Saudi Arabia began its own pilgrimage preparations. This included faster visa issuance and the early distribution of Nusuk pilgrimage ID cards, he added.
“The Nusuk [ID service] has started being distributed in Indonesia, so there are no longer cases of pilgrims being separated from their families, arriving without hotel arrangements or being left behind,” Irfan said.
Read also: Indonesia records significant drop in haj-related fatalities
The government has also introduced multi-year contracts with haj service providers in Saudi Arabia, which Irfan said would give partners greater certainty to improve facilities and services for Indonesian pilgrims.
