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MBS welcomes opening 'Indonesian village' in Mecca: Prabowo
The President said the Saudi leader had responded well to a plan to establish a speical village in Mecca for Indonesian pilgrims.
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President Prabowo Subianto delivers a speech on May 2, 2025, during a National Education Day event at SDN Cimahpar 5 state elementary school in Bogor, West Java, which included the launch of several education initiatives such as school renovation, digital learning materials and teachers’ financial assistance. (Antara/Arif Firmansyah)
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resident Prabowo Subianto says Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) has responded well to a proposal extended during their recent meeting to establish a special "village" in Mecca to accommodate pilgrims from Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.
"The last time I met him, I floated the idea of building an Indonesian village in the Holy Land, the closest to Masjid al-Haram, and his reaction was quite positive," the President said on Sunday, as quoted by Antara.
Prabowo said Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar was currently working on details of the plan and would soon travel to Saudi Arabia to finalize the deal.
On Sunday, Prabowo inaugurated a brand-new terminal dedicated to serving haj and umrah (minor haj) pilgrims at Terminal 2F of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.
The government plans to send a total of 221,000 haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia during the haj season this year.
In this year’s first wave of haj departures last week, more than 7,000 Indonesians took off to Saudi Arabia, marking the official start of the annual pilgrimage for millions of Muslims worldwide.
