"The case of people using the pilgrimage program only as a way to reach Syria to join the ISIS must never happen again. Although travel agents are not linked the incident may not happen again," Saleh Daulay, the legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said in a text message received here on Sunday.
He said ISISs aggressive way of recruiting new members posed a serious threat on Indonesia.
"It is not nice to hear minor hajj pilgrims joining ISIS. Perhaps they have already planned while still in Indonesia to later separate themselves from the tour group to go to other places," he said referring to a recent incident in which 16 tour participants had been reported missing in Turkey after separating themselves from their tour group and feared to have crossed to Syria to join ISIS.
Saleh said the ministry of religious affairs may for the time being issued a circular to hajj and minor hajj pilgrimage organizers to request them to only serve direct pilgrimage travel to Saudi Arabia.
This way all pilgrims are assured they will reach the holy land and that their only purpose is for participating in a religious rite, he said.
To attract participants travel agents have so far offered not only hajj and minor hajj pilgrimages but also a religious tour of Islamic countries such as Turkey, Palestine and other countries in the Middle East.
"To prevent a tour program like this one from being misused for other purposes, perhaps it should be scrapped for the time being. It will be opened again only after situation is normal again," Daulay who is also the chairman of the foreign affairs commission of the Indonesia Council of Ulemas (MUI) said.
He said hajj and minor hajj pilgrimage organizers could also be requested to assure that they know all the participants and that their main purpose is for pilgrimage.
If all who have registered are allowed to go it is not impossible that they could also include some who joined the program with a sole purpose of reaching Syria or Iraq.
"It is indeed quite difficult to do it but this could be taken as a preventive measure. The government must be in the vanguard with regard to preventing ISIS influence in the country," he said.
reporting by dewanto samodro
(T.D018/H-YH)
(T.SYS/B/H-YH/A014)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
