Jakarta. Indonesia is urging its Umrah pilgrims to avoid transiting through Singapore and Malaysia and instead take direct flights to Saudi Arabia.

Indonesia — the world’s largest Muslim-majority country — has about 2 million people going on the minor pilgrimage of Umrah annually.

As many as 221,000 people traveled to Islam’s holiest city Mecca for Hajj — a once-in-a-lifetime mandatory pilgrimage for able Muslims — each year. According to Deputy Haj Minister Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, around 70,000 Indonesian Umrah pilgrims would have a stopover in Malaysia and Singapore, which the politician attributed to the use of foreign airliners.

“If we can get the 70,000 people transiting via Malaysia and Singapore to use Indonesian airlines, that would help our national economy,” Dahnil said on Monday.

Dahnil acknowledged this would require the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and the private-owned Lion Group to “improve their services”. These companies also have to provide competitive prices to beef up their footing among Indonesian pilgrims. 

The neighbors’ flag carriers, Malaysia Airlines and Singapore Airlines, usually have a stopover in their respective airports.

According to Dahnil, Umrah travel remains uninterrupted amid the Middle East conflict and the recent drone attacks launched by Yemen’s Houthi group against the kingdom. The government, however, will keep a close eye on the Indonesians traveling abroad.

Dahnil’s comment on no Singapore transits marks another episode in the diplomatic spat between the fellow ASEAN nations. 

Singapore has been grappling with toxic smog coming from Kalimantan forest fires. To add salt to the wound, Ex-Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi accused Singapore of being behind the planned stock market downgrade by index provider MSCI.

More recently, Indonesia has slashed its pipeline gas networks to Singapore to prioritize domestic customers. Senior energy minister Bahlil Lahadalia told the press that he doubted the long-awaited green power export to the city-state could take place anytime soon.

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