REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government, through the Ministry of Religious Affairs, must issue a policy that can help shorten the waiting list of hajj pilgrims that now has some three million devout waiting to make that journey.

Chairman of Commission VIII on religious affairs of the House of Representatives (DPR), Partaonan Daulay, told a press conference here on Saturday that a would-be hajj pilgrim now has to wait for about 19 years before his or her turn to undertake the pilgrimage.

He said a number of steps can be taken to shorten the waiting list.

"We have asked the Religious Affairs Minister to ban those who have already undertaken hajj pilgrimage in the past ten years and accord priority to those who have not yet gone to the Holy Land," noted Saleh. If this policy is issued, people will have 10 years of time before they could revisit the Holy Land during the hajj pilgrimage season.

The Religious Affairs Minister also needs to evaluate the policy on providing would-be hajj pilgrims with bailout down payments through the banking system.

"If a would-be hajj pilgrim goes to a bank with a cash of Rp5 million and gets a Rp20 million bailout down payment, then Rp25 million will be equal to the initial hajj deposit. The bailout funds have encouraged many people to register for hajj pilgrimage," he stressed.

He said if the government issued a policy in this regard, it is likely to reduce the number of would-be pilgrims on the list.

As of now, the quota for Indonesia to send pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year is 168,000, consisting of 152,000 regular hajj pilgrims and 13,600 pilgrims under a special service.

The normal quota for Indonesia is 210,000 but due to renovation of the Haram Mosque in Mecca, the Saudi Authority cut the quota of hajj pilgrims across the world.

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