JAKARTA, thekabarnews.com—Former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo directed officials to divide Indonesia’s additional 2024 hajj allocation equally between regular and special pilgrims. This directive came according to testimony and a statement from the defense team of former religious affairs minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

Former Hajj and Umrah Management director general Hilman Latief raised the claim while testifying at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, September 24.

He said Yaqut told him about the instruction before a working meeting with the House of Representatives.

“[The] 50:50 [allocation] was a directive from the president,” Hilman told the court. When the presiding judge asked him to identify the president, he replied, “Joko Widodo.”

Yaqut’s lawyer, Mellisa Anggraini, said the instruction followed an evaluation of the 2023 hajj season. Moreover, it reflected concerns about older pilgrims and harsher weather in Saudi Arabia.

“Then came the president’s direction. Of course, this was solely for the pilgrims’ safety,” Mellisa said.

“Based on that direction, officials conducted studies and simulations. So when they say there was no study, how could there have been none?”

Official Religious Affairs Ministry data support the concern about vulnerable pilgrims. Indonesia recorded 774 pilgrim deaths during the operational period of the 2023 hajj, the highest figure in a decade.

In 2024, nearly 44,800 regular pilgrims were at least 65 years old, accounting for about 21 percent of the regular quota. In addition, the ministry published both the 2023 mortality data and the 2024 older-pilgrim figures.

Indonesia received 20,000 additional places for the 2024 pilgrimage. The Religious Affairs Ministry eventually assigned 10,000 to regular pilgrims and 10,000 to special hajj operators.

However, the House’s 2024 hajj inquiry report said officials had previously proposed allocating 18,400 places to the regular program. They also proposed 1,600 places go to the special program.

That formula followed Article 64 of the 2019 Hajj and Umrah Law. This law sets the special quota at 8 percent of Indonesia’s total allocation.

The House later accused the ministry of implementing the equal split without parliamentary approval.

Mellisa argued that the extra allocation had not yet appeared officially in Saudi Arabia’s E-Hajj system. This was the situation when lawmakers held their November 27, 2023, meeting.

“There would have been no difference if they had waited for the memorandum of understanding and for it to appear in E-Hajj,” she said.

“The question should be directed at the House: Why did they force through something that did not yet exist?”

She also claimed that the revised arrangement generated Rp601 billion in budget savings. The court has not independently established that calculation.

Prosecutors, by contrast, allege that the quota arrangements caused Rp622.09 billion in state losses, an accusation Yaqut disputes.

Yaqut remains on trial and retains the presumption of innocence. The court must still assess whether Jokowi issued the reported instruction.

It must also determine whether it had legal force and whether it affects Yaqut’s responsibility for the disputed allocation.