Gus Irfan Defends Family Involvement After Hajj Ministry Appointments Draw Criticism
Indonesia's Hajj and Umrah Minister Mochamad Irfan Yusuf, known as Gus Irfan, said his child and students worked without pay to help establish the ministry's predecessor agency. His explanation, released on October 23, 2026, followed scrutiny of expert staff appointments that included two of his sons.
Decree naming two sons draws criticism
The controversy arose after a ministerial decree signed by Gus Irfan circulated on social media. Ministerial Decree No. 3 of 2026, concerning appointments to the minister's expert staff, contains nine names. His sons Barbarossa Muhammad Farros and Gibran Muhammad Fawwaz appear second and seventh, respectively, according to Suara.com and Warta Ekonomi.
Several public figures criticized the appointments on October 23. Political analyst Saiful Mujani used a social media post to condemn a minister appointing his own child as an adviser, comparing the situation to a sign that the end of the world was near. Social media activist Herwin Sudikta said the practice made the state resemble a family company. Activist Islah Bahrawi described the appointments as nepotism and another form of gibranisasi.
Minister points to unpaid work during agency's formation
In his account, reported by Kompas.com, Gus Irfan traced his child's involvement to the launch of the Hajj Organizing Agency, or BP Haji. He said the agency lacked an organizational structure, an office and adequate support personnel when he and Dahnil Anzar took charge in late October 2024.
"When we left the palace, we had no staff, we had no office, we had nothing," he said in a press release dated October 23, 2026.
Dahnil received help from his Ministry of Defense team, while Gus Irfan's students and child came forward to assist him, the minister said. He described their work as unsolicited volunteer assistance that continued for three to four months without pay.
President Prabowo Subianto had appointed Gus Irfan to lead BP Haji on October 22, 2024, under Presidential Decree No. 144/P of 2024, with Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak as deputy. The agency was established to separate hajj and umrah affairs from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
BP Haji became the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah after the House of Representatives, or DPR, passed a revision of Law No. 8 of 2019 in August 2025. Gus Irfan was sworn in as its first minister on September 8, 2025.
Gus Irfan said some early helpers with relevant expertise subsequently joined the expert staff as the agency developed into a ministry. Others resumed their previous activities or returned to their religious boarding schools.
He also outlined the staffing allocations available to him as minister: three special staff positions, of which he said he filled one, and five expert staff positions, of which he said he filled four.
Staff shortages and shared district leadership
Gus Irfan also cited a broader personnel shortage. As of October 23, 2026, he said, the ministry employed about 4,000 people against an ideal requirement of roughly 7,000. He described staffing as less than 50 percent of requirements and said the ministry was drawing on all available resources, including outsourced personnel, according to Kompas.com's Yogyakarta coverage.
Because the ministry could not quickly recruit civil servants, known as ASN, on its own, it invited transfers from other ministries and regional governments. About 300 personnel from other ministries attended an entry meeting roughly two months earlier, he said.
The minister said district and city offices were also sharing leadership through dual appointments. He cited seven district offices in East Java covered by such arrangements, including the Jombang office head also overseeing Mojokerto and the Situbondo office covering Banyuwangi.