April 11, 2026 | 11:20 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The General Chairperson of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board, Yahya Cholil Staquf, has raised questions regarding the mechanism proposed by the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to eliminate the hajj waiting period and implement a "ticket war" system. Yahya considered the idea to be mere discourse that has not yet been thoroughly considered.
"If someone comes up with an idea or fantasizes by themselves, well, that is allowed," he remarked during an interview at the PBNU office in Jakarta on Friday, April 10, 2026.
According to Yahya, removing the long-standing hajj waiting period and implementing a ticketing war system demands serious consideration. He noted that the government must address the issue of fairness for prospective pilgrims who have already spent years in the queue. "What about those who have already been waiting? That needs to be considered, doesn't it?" he said.
Yahya claimed that PBNU has not been involved in any initial discussions regarding this proposal. In his view, a public policy idea should undergo a rigorous study process and involve multiple stakeholders before being announced.
He also declined to speculate on the feasibility of the system, arguing that the discourse remains too vague to be suitable for debate. "I have to first see if this idea or proposal is serious or not. I simply don't know," he added.
Nevertheless, Yahya stated that PBNU stands ready to form a team to conduct a study and provide formal recommendations should the discourse be officially discussed.
Historically, the hajj waiting period system was introduced in Indonesia in 2008 as public interest in performing the pilgrimage significantly exceeded the annual quota allocated by Saudi Arabia.
The hajj waiting periods across the archipelago have fluctuated, ranging from a dozen to as many as 47 years. However, starting this year, the government has standardized the hajj waiting period across all regions to 26 years.
The idea of abolishing waiting lines in favor of a ticketing war mechanism surfaced after President Prabowo Subianto instructed the Ministry of Hajj to revolutionize the pilgrimage organization.
Minister of Hajj and Umrah Mochamad Irfan Yusuf stated that one of the emerging ideas was to scrap the waiting list in favor of direct registration. He explained that this system was previously in place in Indonesia before the establishment of the Hajj Financial Management Agency (BPKH).
Read: Indonesia Mulls 'Ticket War' System for Hajj Pilgrimage
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