REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Religious Affairs Ministry is currently preparing a regulation on the Hajj Fund Management Body (BPKH) as necessitated by Law No. 34/2014, a minister stated.

"We have eight months left to prepare the regulation after the law was endorsed by the House of Representatives (DPR)," Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin remarked during a thanksgiving ceremony held to commemorate the ministry's 69th anniversary on Tuesday night.

The thanksgiving function was also attended by former religious affairs ministers: Quraish Shihab, M. Malik Fajar, and Muh. Maftuh Basyuni.

Saifuddin said his ministry will soon draft a government regulation to that effect and set up an election committee to fill in the positions in the BPKH.

He stated that all these steps must be carried out immediately, so that the Hajj pilgrimage can be better managed in the future. Henceforth, the religious affairs ministry will no longer handle the management of Hajj funds. There will a clear demarcation between fund management and pilgrimage management.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Nur Syam earlier remarked that the down payment of prospective Hajj pilgrims until 2014 has accumulated to Rp73.79 trillion. In 2022, it is expected to reach Rp147.67 trillion. The funds must be managed well.

"The management of funds and the pilgrimage should be carried out separately. The ministry will manage the pilgrimage, and a body outside the ministry will manage the Hajj funds," Syam added.

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