The average wait to perform Hajj after registering in Indonesia has fallen to 14 years. The country's Hajj and Umrah ministry gave the figure after checking about 5.7 million registrations on the waiting list and removing some 400,000 invalid or faulty records, Barta24 reported.
The announcement followed a meeting in Jakarta between President Prabowo Subianto and the Hajj and Umrah minister and deputy minister. Afterwards deputy minister Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak told reporters that the national average wait for Indonesians hoping to go on Hajj this year is now 14 years.
According to Dahnil, after the Hajj ministry was set up some pilgrims faced waits of up to 49 years. A change in the calculation method last year brought the national average down to 26 years, which the president still considered too long, and he has told the ministry to keep looking for ways to shorten it.
Officials say the verification has given a clearer picture of the real waiting list. The government is now focusing on keeping the Hajj database accurate and regularly updated, and on administrative reform of Hajj management, so that prospective pilgrims face less uncertainty about when they can travel.
As one of the world's largest Muslim-majority countries, Indonesia has long waiting lists because of a limited quota and very large numbers of applicants. Each year 221,000 Indonesians get the chance to perform Hajj.
Photo: Adli Wahid / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Barta24
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