The issuance of Religious Affairs Ministerial Regulation No. 8/2018 on umrah travel has been praised by some societal elements as a move they have long awaited, given the fact that pilgrims are prone to being cheated by devious tour operators.

Rahmawati, 53, an umrah travel victim from Surakarta, Central Java, said the ministerial regulation would hopefully prevent deceitful umrah travel agencies from operating in the country.

“We need such a regulation because all this time, we have never had a specific law that regulates umrah, including the standard rates for the pilgrimage,” she said on Wednesday.

Rahmawati is one of 1,800 pilgrims who fell victim to umrah scams committed by Hannien Tour, an umrah travel agency based in Surakarta.

She said she was attracted by the umrah packages offered by the company as the costs were quite low, ranging from Rp 15 million (US$1,086) to Rp 18 million. “I only paid Rp 25 million for two people,” Rahmawati said. She ended up not departing for Saudi Arabia, however.

Mansur, 47, a resident of Palu, Central Sulawesi, said it was his highest hope that the regulation would give Muslims better protection against umrah scams.

“Let me and other victims be the last victims of such fraudulent activities,” he said. Mansur is one of the victims of Makassar-based travel agent Abu Tours, which offered him a very low umrah fee amounting to Rp 13 million per person.

The South Sulawesi Police last week named Abu Tours CEO Muhammad Hamzah Mamba, 35, a suspect for committing umrah scams. “He has caused Rp 1.8 trillion worth of financial losses for consumers of his travel company,” the police’s spokesperson, Sr. Comr. Dicky Sondani, said.

Citing data, the police said 86,720 people from 15 provinces had fallen victim to Abu Tours’ umrah scams.

Public expectation for the regulation of umrah trips in Indonesia began last year after authorities uncovered First Travel’s umrah scams, which had caused Rp 1 trillion worth of losses to more than 50,000 victims who failed to depart to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

Ministerial Regulation No. 8 stipulates six requirements that umrah travel agencies must follow. The regulation bans ponzi schemes, limits the time applicants can be on the waiting list to only six months and sets a minimum rate for umrah trips.

Under the regulation, umrah travel agencies are also required to report online the full itinerary of their pilgrimages to the Religious Affairs Ministry, must get accreditation for travel agencies and provide a minimum standard of service in their trip packages.

“The regulation is intended to protect our pilgrims and create healthy umrah business practices,” the ministry’s haj and umrah director general, Nizar Ali, said on Wednesday.

He further said the minimum price for an umrah trip would likely be set at Rp 20 million, a figure that several umrah travel agencies had considered “reasonable” after last December the Saudi Arabian government issued a regulation to impose a 5 percent VAT on goods and services.

The Surakarta Religious Affairs Agency has taken an initial step to advise all societal elements in the city about the newly enacted regulation. The agency’s haj and umrah department chief Rosyid Ali Safitri said his institution would first focus its attention on enforcing the minimum umrah rate.

While praising the government’s regulation, Nettour Travel Umroh public relations manager Candra Pusponegoro said the standardized umrah rate had no significant impact because the market price of an umrah package was above Rp 20 million. “We have an average price of over Rp 22 million here,” Candra said in Batam.

In Medan, North Sumatra, residents said the Rp 20 million minimum umrah rate was too expensive.

“The difference from the haj rate is too slight, with a little more money I could go on haj,” said Muliani, 45. “With such a high price, my colleagues have changed their plans to go on umrah.” (srs/sha)

Andi Hajramurni from Makassar, Apriadi Gunawan from Medan, and Rizal Harahap from Pekanbaru contributed to this story.

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