Indonesia cancels hajj trips this year

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesian would-be pilgrims have had to put their hajj plans on hold this year as the world’s largest Muslim-majority country has officially decided to cancel the 2020 hajj over coronavirus concerns, reports thejakartapost.com.

Sri Kustini, 60, is just one of the people who had plans to embark on a hajj trip this year. She has been waiting for years to go to Saudi Arabia, having registered for the pilgrimage in 2014.

She said she had paid in February the full amount for the trip, which cost her hundreds of millions of rupiah in total.

The resident of Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, said she found out about the government cancelling this year's haj from the news, which she forwarded to other would-be pilgrims. Her travel agent, Sri said, had yet to issue any announcement regarding the suspension.

"Maybe Allah has yet to allow us to visit. We are neither disappointed nor upset. There will be another time," Sri told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"We accept the government's decision. We just need certainty that we will go [on hajj] when this [the pandemic] has ended."

Indonesia, which has the largest quota of hajj pilgrims in the world, initially planned to send up to 221,000 people for the annual Muslim tradition. The Religious Affairs Ministry recorded that nearly 180,000 of the pilgrims had paid for their scheduled journeys.

However, Religious Affairs Minister Fachrul Razi said the ongoing pandemic, as well as Saudi Arabia's indefinite suspension on haj and umrah (minor hajj) trips, did not leave enough time for the government to prepare people's visas and protection measures.


Dhaka/Nasim