Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin conveyed that the acquisition of Indonesia’s hajj quota for as many as 100,051 people from the Saudi Arabian government this year is something to be grateful for.
“We are grateful, we accept it, because it’s been two years since we haven’t had many pilgrimages,” said the vice president on the sidelines of his working visit in Gunung Kidul, Yogyakarta, Friday.
The vice president said that the authority to provide hajj quota rests with the government of Saudi Arabia.
Therefore, the Vice President said, whatever the decision, the Indonesian government will accept it even though the quota acquisition is actually below the quota before the pandemic which could reach 200,000 people.
“Usually, if the normal number is above 200,000 people, now we are given more than 100,000 people,” he said.
Nevertheless, according to the Vice President, the acquisition of the quota must still be accepted and grateful for because Indonesia is a country that has quite a lot of quotas compared to other countries.
“So we just accept the amount and we are among the ones who get quite special, because the others are below us, and we are quite good,” he said.
The vice president asked the public to be patient because the decrease in the hajj quota caused the queues for hajj departures to get longer.
“Yes, there are usually 10 years, some 20 years, 15 years, maybe two more years (pandemic), it could add up again,” he explained. (ojn/bbs)
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