Jakarta, April 19 -- The Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that the departure of Indonesians to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj pilgrimage will commence on May 12.

The ministry's Director General of Hajj and Umrah Organizations, Hilman Latief, said in a statement from his office on Friday that Indonesian pilgrims will depart in two batches from 14 embarkations.

This year, Indonesia received a quota of 221,000 Hajj pilgrims and an additional quota of 20,000, bringing the total to 241,000.

The total quota is broken down into 213,320 for regular pilgrims and 27,680 for special pilgrims. They are scheduled to start entering the Hajj dormitory on May 11.

"The first batch of Indonesian Hajj pilgrims will depart for the Amir Muhammad bin Abd...