(MENAFN) Accusing Saudi Arabia of politicizing the Hajj, Ziyad Abdul Malik, chairman of the Muslim Students Association's (HMI) branch in South Jakarta, criticized the kingdom for using the pilgrimage to Mecca, considered Islam's holiest city, to enforce its policies on other Gulf nations and Muslim-majority countries, Al-Jazeera reported.
HMI, the largest student group in Indonesia, organised the event - dubbed "Islamic Holy Places for All of the Ummah"- at the Indonesia University in Depok.
Other organizers echoed Malik's criticisms, arguing that Saudi Arabia had let political rows with several countries - Qatar, Syria, Iran and Yemen, among others - influence its Hajj regulations.
Representatives of Garda Suci Merah Putih (GSMP), another organization that participated in the conference, argued that Saudi Arabia had violated the conditions of its role as custodian of the Islamic faith's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.
"Only God has the right to forbid anyone to go on Hajj, not Saudi Arabia," Mujtahid Hasheem, secretary-general of GSMP, told Al Jazeera as quoted.
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