Hello reader,

Some 200 thousand Indonesian Muslims embarked on the sacred Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia this year. Tragically, some won’t be making their way home.

Read on for more on this year’s Hajj from an Indonesian perspective, as well as other top stories from across the archipelago.

Cheers,

Andra

Law/Politics

• Marzuki Mustamar, former chairman of the East Java chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), is preparing to run in the East Java gubernatorial election with the backing of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is closely affiliated with the prominent Islamic organization. Incumbent Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who is officially still part of PKB but owes much of her political rise to other parties, will likely remain the strongest candidate in the province.

• The Indonesia Forward Coalition (KIM), which backed Prabowo Subianto to his presidential election victory this year, has agreed to nominate Ridwan Kamil for a second stint West Java governor in the upcoming regional elections. That’s according to Zulkifli Hasan, who chairs the National Mandate Party (PAN), one of the four KIM parties to have seats in parliament. Ridwan has also been tipped to run in Jakarta.

• So many oknums, eh? Fifteen officers from the Medan Police Department are now fugitives, implicated in attempted robbery, robbery, and illegal drug use. Photos and details of these rogue officers have been released to the public as authorities ramp up their efforts to bring them to justice.

• A 31-year-old man was killed when he rear-ended his silver Porsche into a truck on a South Jakarta highway early this morning. The car’s passenger, a 23-year-old woman, survived the horrific incident. The Traffic Police’s Law Enforcement Unit has seized the truck, though there does not seem to be any indication that the truck driver was at fault and that he would face charges.

• Police is investigating the death of a woman at a gym in Pontianak, West Kalimantan on June 18. A viral video of the incident shows the woman finishing up on the treadmill on the third floor before she tumbled backwards and fell through an open window to her demise. The treadmill was placed a mere couple of feet away from the window.

• A 30-year-old man is facing up to 15 years in prison for slitting his 3-year-old child’s throat in Serang, Banten yesterday. To the authorities, the man said he killed his own child as part of a spiritual sacrifice.

Business/Economy

• The rupiah strengthened against the US dollar today, closing at IDR 16,365 per USD, up by an impressive 47 points. This increase is attributed to the decline in the US 10-year Treasury yield and optimism about potential interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the fourth quarter of 2024.

• The Jakarta Provincial Government has issued a new regulation limiting property tax exemptions to only one house, valued at IDR 2 billion or less, per taxpayer. This is a change from the previous policy allowing exemptions for multiple properties, with the aim of increasing local tax revenues and ensuring a fairer distribution of tax burdens among residents.

• Amid all the faff, Indonesia’s Communications and Information Ministry said it won’t block access to X after all. That said, the ministry intends to make X comply with local regulations on pornography and gambling, both of which are illegal in Indonesia.

Everything Else

Falling in Holy Land

Sad news coming out of Saudi Arabia: as of this morning, 165 Indonesian pilgrims have died during Hajj, Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Ministry has confirmed. The elderly made up the majority of the death toll, with the oldest Indonesian pilgrim to have died reported to be 94 years old. The youngest was 31. 

Over 550 people overall have died during this year’s sacred journey, with officials attributing the deaths to scorching heat in Mecca. Temperatures have soared above 50 degrees Celsius in this unforgiving Arabian summer.

As millions of pilgrims wrap up this year’s Hajj, one hopes that there will be no more casualties from Indonesia or anywhere else. As for the fallen, there may be solace in the belief that taking one’s last breath on holy land, during such a holy occasion, is a special privilege in Islam.

In Other News

- The House of Parliament (DPR) is calling for higher hospitality standards for Indonesian Hajj pilgrims after a video circulated depicting hundreds crammed into a small tent as they slept on the floor. As a country that’s home to some 12% of Muslims in the world, DPR believes the government has the right to make demands of Saudi Arabia for the humane treatment of Indonesian pilgrims.

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