Indonesia's deputy haj minister Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said around 70,000 Indonesian pilgrims would stopover in Malaysia and Singapore when flying on foreign airlines.PETALING JAYA: Indonesia is urging its umrah pilgrims to fly directly to Saudi Arabia on local airlines, instead of taking connecting flights that transit in Singapore and Malaysia, to help boost the republic’s economy.
Deputy haj minister Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak says that around 70,000 Indonesian pilgrims would stop over in Malaysia and Singapore when flying on foreign airlines, the Jakarta Globe reported.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, sees two million pilgrims going on umrah annually.
“If we can get the 70,000 people transiting via Malaysia and Singapore to use Indonesian airlines, that would help our national economy,” Dahnil was quoted as saying.
