Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia’s anti-graft agency has uncovered suspected corruption in the organization of the 2023-2024 Hajj pilgrimage that inflated travel costs and subsidies, officials said.
Acting Deputy for Enforcement and Execution at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Asep Guntur Rahayu said on Tuesday night that the case is linked to the distribution of an additional 20,000 Hajj quotas granted by Saudi Arabia for 2024.
Under regulations, 92 percent of the extra quota should have gone to regular Hajj pilgrims and eight percent to special packages. In practice, the allocation was split evenly.
As a result, the government lost the ability to manage benefit funds used to subsidize travel costs for 8,400 regular pilgrims. These funds are a key element of the subsidy scheme for Hajj travel, known as BPIH.
Rahayu said the BPIH is funded by two components: direct payments by pilgrims and subsidies financed through investment returns on Hajj deposits, determined annually by the government and parliament.
For 2024, the average BPIH was set at 93.41 million rupiah ($5,679). Pilgrims were required to pay 60 percent of this amount (56.04 million rupiah), while the government covered the remaining 40 percent (37.36 million rupiah) using Hajj fund benefits.
The quota manipulation reduced the government’s ability to subsidize costs for 8,400 pilgrims, who should have been classified as regular participants.
“The number of regular pilgrims dropped from 18,400 to 10,000, as 8,400 were shifted into the special quota,” Rahayu said.
He added that subsidies depend on long-term management of deposits made by prospective pilgrims, set at 25 million rupiah ($1,519) per person.
“For regular Hajj, the waiting time can exceed 20 years, giving the government an opportunity to manage these funds and generate returns,” he said.
Special Hajj packages often have little or no waiting period, limiting potential returns.
As of August 11, 2025, the KPK estimated state losses in the case at more than 1 trillion rupiah ($60.7 million) and issued travel bans against three individuals, including former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.
