Jakarta. A state administrative expert suggested that the Religious Affairs Ministry establish an agency dedicated to handling the Hajj pilgrimage, rather than entrusting the task to a directorate general as it is done today.

The separation of Hajj management from the directorate is intended to improve services and avoid lengthy bureaucratic procedures when it directly falls under government supervision, said Djohermansyah Djohar.

"Such an agency will be more service-oriented, unlike the function of a directorate general,” Djohermansyah said on Wednesday.

Indonesia regularly sends over 200,000 Muslim pilgrims to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year, more than any other country in the world.

The Hajj pilgrimage management would be more efficient and effective if it were led by a service-oriented organization, rather than a fully government-run directorate, he said.

The former director general of regional autonomy at the Home Affairs Ministry disagreed with the idea of establishing a separate ministry exclusively to handle the Hajj pilgrimage.

"It’s not an urgent matter to establish a ministry whose sole task is handling the Hajj pilgrimage," he said.

"Hajj management isn’t as complex as education, public works, or transportation, so I don’t see the urgency of having a separate ministry for that," he added.

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