Independent agency to manage Indonesia’s $6.7 bln hajj fund to start in Q4

Photo: Indonesian Haj pilgrims wait to enter the departure area before leaving for Mecca at Soekarno-Hatta International airport near Jakarta, Indonesia, September 16, 2015. REUTERS/Nyimas Laula

Indonesia’s new hajj fund management agency (BPKH) will start operations in the fourth quarter of this year, a move aimed at increasing transparency and profitability for the 90 trillion Indonesian rupiah ($6.7 billion) fund, director of the country’s current Haj Fund Management Agency at the religious affairs ministry, Ramadhan Harisman, told Salaam Gateway.

The new agency is to be run independently of the government’s religious affairs ministry and was planned to open by the end of 2015. The delay in its establishment has been due to the government’s deliberations on the body’s legal status and the need to install proper regulations for it, according to Harisman.

The new state-linked fund will be run by industry professionals with no involvement from the religious affairs ministry. It will be answerable to the president of Indonesia and the Commission VI House of Representatives that overlooks trade, industrial, investment, cooperatives and SMEs, and state-owned enterprises affairs. It will be audited by the national Audit Board (BPK) every six months, said Harisman.