JEDDAH (Yosefardi) – After a bilateral meeting with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, through his personal Facebook account, announced that Indonesia has secured additional quota of 10,000 haj pilgrims.
President Jokowi said the additional quota of haj pilgrims is a good news for Muslims in Indonesia.
The President, however, also ordered all related parties in Indonesia to improve the quality of haj management and services. He said he doesn’t want to see extortion and corruption practices in the haj management in the future.
The bilateral meeting between President Jokowi and King Salman was held on Saturday (Sept. 12) in the King Faisal’s palace. Saudi Arabia is the first country that President Jokowi visited in his five-day working visit in Middle East.
Accompanying the President in his visit were some ministers, among others, Coordinating Minister for Economy Darmin Nasution, Minister of Foreign Affairs Retno LP Marsudi, Minister of Trade Thomas Lembong, Minister of National Development Planning (Bappenas) Sofyan Djalil, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, and President Jokowi’s Special Envoy for Middle East Alwi Shihab. (haryantosuharman@yosefardi.com)