Indonesian Haj Mission Lauded for Serving Pilgrims Successfully

Jeddah, MINA — The Indonesian Haj Mission organized recently an appreciation ceremony for the Haj service providers, including Saudi stakeholders and their Indonesian counterparts.

The stakeholders, who rendered excellent services for the pilgrims, were honored with mementos by Consul General Mohamad Hery Saripudin and other dignitaries at a function held at the Haj Mission office in Jeddah.

The speakers at the function lauded the Haj Affairs Office of the Indonesian Consulate and the Saudi Haj service providers for their commendable contributions in making the Haj operation a resounding success. Meanwhile, the last flight of Haj pilgrims will leave Madinah on Thursday for Jakarta. As many as 221,000 Indonesians have performed Haj this year and this was the highest number of pilgrims ever coming for the annual pilgrimage of Haj from a foreign country in history.

The dignitaries who attended the ceremony also included Khoirizi Dulabas, director of Guidance Affairs at the General Directorate of Haj and Umrah Affairs under the Ministry of Religious Affairs of Indonesia; Dr. Ahmad Dumyathi Bashori, Haj consul and head of Indonesian Haj Committee; Mohammed Amin Hassan Indragiri, chairman of the National Tawafa Establishment for South East Asian Pilgrims; Fawwaz Abdullah Al-Hassani, representative of Saudi Ministry of Haj and Umrah, and Ahmad Abdullah Ahmad Bashanam Kuer, owner of Ragaib catering company.

Speaking on the occasion, Indragiri lauded the much appreciable role of the Indonesian Haj Mission officials and staff in extending the best possible services for the pilgrims with their dedicated and selfless services.

“I specially appreciate their efforts while taking into account of the fact that this year the Haj service to the Indonesian pilgrims was a daunting task in view of the largest ever number of pilgrims in history. The challenges involved in making adequate arrangements for the pilgrims after having a big increase in their number in a short span of time following the lifting of ban on the quota cut, high temperature during the Haj season, as well as some safety concerns.”

“We worked together with one heart and one mind along with our team members who are very sincere and hard working in serving the pilgrims,” he added.

The best in terms of organization and management

On his part, Al-Hassani, official of the Ministry of Haj and Umrah, commended that this year’s Haj was among the best in terms of organization and management as far as the Indonesian Haj Mission was concerned.

“They were exemplary in their services especially in the transport and food supply sectors as well as in the meticulously planned management of Haj affairs,” he lauded.

Speaking to Saudi Gazette, Consul General Saripudin thanked the Indonesian Haj Committee and Saudi authorities for their excellent services to ensure a hassle-free Haj operation.

“I value highly the close cooperation between our Haj mission and Saudi Haj service providers in all areas concerning the pilgrims, especially accommodation, food supply, and transportation. Compared to previous years, we were able to provide much better services and facilities even though this year there was an increase of more than 52,000 in the number of pilgrims,” he said.

“The tireless and dedicated efforts on the part of our team enabled us to score excellent performance results even though the number of officials and staff to serve the pilgrims was similar as in the case of last year. We did not confront with any problems and challenges that were beyond our control. The ceremony was conducted to give a token of appreciation for the excellent work done, especially by our Saudi stakeholders,” he added.

Haj Consul Bashori expressed his happiness over the accomplishment of the mission in a very successful way. “Firstly, all praise to Allah Almighty and then to all people who worked together with us to make the Haj operation extremely successful and much easier.” He told Saudi Gazette that the private pilgrims faced some problems.

“The services and facilities provided to them were not up to the mark. Our government will examine this issue and will come out with appropriate measures in sorting out such issues and streamlining their services for the next Haj,” he said.

There were 17,000 Indonesian pilgrims who came through special pilgrims system managed by private tour operators.

The Haj consul said that more than 500 deaths were reported among the pilgrims.

“More than 56 percent of pilgrims were above the age of 60 and they included many with chronic ailments,” he said, adding that sun stroke cases were one of the major causes of death. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)