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The minister of religious affairs on Friday waved off the first of this year’s Indonesian hajj pilgrims and sought to calm worries that pilgrims could have problems with accommodation in Saudi Arabia caused by a last-minute building-code rule issued by Riyadh.

“I guarantee that all pilgrims will get lodging,” Suryadharma Ali said after seeing off 1,355 travelers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The Saudi government last week issued a regulation requiring all buildings of at least four stories and housing more than 250 people to provide emergency exit stairs. The regulation was issued after all Indonesian government lease contracts had been finalized with building owners.

But Suryadharma said the government had asked Saudi Arabia to reconsider its building-standard regulation.

Abdul Kadir Karding, chairman of House of Representatives’ Commission VIII for religious affairs, social affairs and women’s empowerment, vowed that a 25-strong House team would fly to Saudi Arabia to ensure the minister kept his promise that all pilgrims would be lodged properly.

Suryadharma said the government had already rented spare buildings in anticipation of problems.

Abdul Ghafur Djawahir, director for the administration of the hajj pilgrimage, said Saudi Arabia had already responded to the Indonesian request and said it would accommodate Indonesian needs “by letting us house fewer than 250 pilgrims in every lodging.”

He said that initially, about 19,000 pilgrims might have been affected by the new building regulation, but the approval of the Saudi government had greatly reduced the number.

Meanwhile, the head of the West Sumatra religious affairs office, Darwas, denied rumors circulating that pilgrims from Padang were sleeping in tents. Darwas said all the pilgrims, who will be flown in batches between Saturday and Nov. 16, were in the local hajj dormitory, which was undamaged by the Sept. 30 quake.

He also said that not one of the 7,500 pilgrims registered in Padang had canceled their trip.

The government provides all-inclusive hajj packages that cover transport, accommodation and meals. Indonesia is this year sending 207,000 hajj pilgrims, including 16,000 who are taking part under the more luxurious of the two package options.

Solo, Central Java, will send the highest number of pilgrims, with 33,038, followed by Jakarta with 21,951.

State-owned airline Garuda Indonesia will fly more than 114,000 hajj pilgrims this year from 10 cities, using 15 wide-bodied aircraft, company spokesman Pujobroto said in a statement.

hajj airline
hajj airline
hajj airline
hajj airline
hajj airline