Indonesia Tells Its Umrah Pilgrims to Avoid Singapore Transit
The Indonesian government is encouraging Umrah pilgrims to avoid transiting through Singapore and Malaysia, urging them to use domestic airlines instead. The move is framed as an economic strategy to support national carriers and follows ongoing diplomatic tensions.
Why it matters
The directive highlights the intersection of religious travel, national economic protectionism, and regional diplomatic relations in Southeast Asia.
October 27, 2026 | 2:41 pm SHARE URL berhasil di salin. Indonesian hajj pilgrims attend a departure ceremony in Kediri, East Java, on April 7, 2026. (Antara Photo/Prasetia Fauzani) Jakarta. Indonesia is urging its Umrah pilgrims to avoid transiting through Singapore and Malaysia and instead take direct flights to Saudi Arabia.
Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim-majority country - has about 2 million people going on the minor pilgrimage of Umrah annually.
As many as 221,000 people traveled to Islam's holiest city Mecca for Hajj - a once-in-a-lifetime mandatory pilgrimage for able Muslims - each year. According to Deputy Haj Minister Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, around 70,000 Indonesian Umrah pilgrims would have a stopover in Malaysia and Singapore, which the politician attributed to the use of foreign airliners.
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