The 2020 haj program was canceled after the emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic, while the program was not offered in 2021. Last year, some 100,000 Indonesian pilgrims traveled to Mecca, pursuant to Saudi Arabia’s country-specific quota and COVID-19 policies.

But authorities assured pilgrims from 2020 who had finished paying the full fee of Rp 35 million and were set to make the journey this year that they would not pay 1 rupiah more.

“We have decided that the delayed 2020 pilgrims will not have to pay [extra],” said Marwan Dasopang, deputy chairman of House Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs, as he announced the decision.

Marwan added that participants of the 2022 haj package, whose trips had been postponed until this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, would be required to pay an additional Rp 9.4 million on top of the Rp 39 million determined for that year.

Given the unique situation as a result of the global pandemic, the House and the ministry decided that the new fee would apply only to participants of the 2022 and 2023 haj programs.

Commission VIII and the ministry had originally planned to make a decision on the haj fee at a House hearing on Monday. But the discussion became heated as lawmakers remained unsatisfied over the ministry’s proposed costs for accommodation and meals, and the meeting went past 7 p.m. without reaching a decision.

Despite the ensuing deadlock, the House and the ministry had reached a preliminary agreement to set this year’s haj fee for pilgrims at Rp 49 million, much lower than the Rp 69 million proposed initially.

While the per pilgrim cost of the haj remained the same at around Rp 98 million, the ministry planned to halve this year’s haj subsidy after footing 60 percent of last year’s total bill. The proposed lower subsidy, which meant that participants would have to cover the remaining cost of around Rp 63 million, was intended to sustain the funds managed by Haj Fund Management Agency (BPKH).

Prior to Monday’s meeting, lawmakers had insisted on achieving their ambitious goal of lowering the haj fee to below Rp 50 million. But even after grilling the ministry’s haj and umrah (minor haj) director general Hilman Latief for hours, lawmakers had only been able to trim the per pilgrim haj cost to Rp 90.2 million.

Meanwhile, the ministry had been able to shave only around Rp 200,000 from the overall hotel cost in Mecca.

The airplane fare of Rp 32.7 million per pilgrim from national carrier Garuda Indonesia contributes the biggest share of the haj cost.

Garuda president director Irfan Setiaputra, who attended Monday's meeting, insisted that the airline had no more wiggle room.

“We’ve taken a bit of a risk by assuming that aviation fuel prices will go down and the exchange rate will improve,” he told the meeting. “So if you’re asking us to lower our prices, it will be difficult.”

This year, Saudi Arabia has reinstated its pilgrim quota for Indonesia to the pre-pandemic figure of 221,000 pilgrims, the first time in three years since the global health crisis forced the Gulf country to ban or drastically reduce the number of foreign pilgrims. Last year, Indonesia sent just over 100,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia under strict health guidelines.

The ministry is still prioritizing participants of the 2020 program who did not make last year’s quota and are scheduled to depart to Saudi Arabia in May and return to Indonesia in August.

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