Witness Reveals Yaqut’s Anger at Hajj Committee Meeting, Bans Attendees from Taking Notes
Ahmad Bahiej, Head of the Legal and Foreign Cooperation Bureau at the Ministry of Religious Affairs from 2021 to 2024, spilled details about an internal meeting that took place after the House of Representatives formed a Special Committee on Hajj in 2024. The meeting happened at Hotel Yuan Pasar Baru in Central Jakarta, with ex-Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, his special staff, expert staff, technical experts, and top officials from the ministry’s first and second echelons all present.
Bahiej testified during a trial on alleged corruption involving extra hajj quotas for 2023-2024 at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday (September 3, 2026), with Yaqut as the defendant. He said Yaqut was furious and demanded everyone come clean about who messed up. “He was angry, like, ‘Just admit it here, who’s been screwing around?’” Bahiej recalled, quoting Yaqut. Everyone in the room just stayed quiet.
Yaqut apparently told them the Hajj Special Committee had turned into a massive headache. On top of that, he ordered people not to take any notes out of the room. “The Minister banned attendees from writing stuff down. Even though I’d already jotted notes on the hotel notepad,” Bahiej said, who ended up burning those notes later.
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