Polri’s Presence In Hajj Affairs

The formation of the Illegal Hajj Task Force (Satgas Haji Ilegal) in 2026, combined with plans to deploy Indonesian National Police (Polri) personnel to Saudi Arabia, marks a shift in how Indonesia governs the annual pilgrimage. This chapter argues that Polri’s expanded role in hajj governance is a necessary operational response to problems that exceed the enforcement capacity of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah acting alone.  Drawing on transnational policing, plural policing and nodal governance, and problem-oriented policing, this chapter analyses the structure of illegal hajj practices, the insider threat dimension revealed when verified hajj support staff were implicated in fraud, and the cross-border character of the criminal networks involved.  The analysis shows that Polri’s contribution is complementary: it fills enforcement, intelligence, and coordination functions that civilian agencies are not equipped to perform. The article contributes to the broader debate on Polri’s cross-institutional role in democratic governance and advances a governance-design argument for formalising police participation within the Amirul Hajj mission structure.