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Govt urged to immediately repatriate detained Indonesian haj pilgrims
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Haj pilgrims from Sumenep, Madura, board a plane at Juanda International Airport in Sidoarjo regency, East Java, on Aug. 9. (thejakartapost.com/Wahyoe Boediwardhana)
T
he government should immediately repatriate 177 Indonesian haj pilgrims currently detained in the Philippines and investigate parties involved in attempting to fraudulently send them on the haj, a haj and umrah (minor pilgrimage) organizer association has said.
The chairman of the East Java branch of the Association of Indonesia Haj and Umrah Organizers (Amphuri), Fauzi Mahendra, said it was crucial that the government investigate the possible involvement of official Indonesian haj organizers in dispatching the 177 haj pilgrims via Manila.
“As long as the pilgrims are detained by Philippine authorities, it is unlikely that the government will be able to trace parties involved in the haj scam,” he said in Surabaya on Tuesday.
Indonesian Muslims who want to go on the haj are being frustrated by the very long waiting list, prompting some to go on the pilgrimage to Mecca via a third country, such as the Philippines.
To minimize such illegal practices, Fauzi said, the government should allow members of travel associations to help organize non-quota haj seats maximally under tight supervision by the government. This would be helpful to cut the long waiting list of Indonesians wanting to go on the haj.
As reported earlier, 177 Indonesians were prevented by Manila airport immigration officers from departing for Medina, Saudi Arabia, after it was discovered that they were not Filipinos but were traveling on Philippine passports on Friday. They are being detained at Bagong Diwa Camp, Taguig City, Manila. (ebf)
