Actually, I have no special activity on this holiday but I can feel the atmosphere of Idul Fitri especially on this year. I can give some reasons why I have no special activity. First, I can’t leave my work. If I say that I will go home into my town, I really want to go home but I can’t. At least thenty-four hours, I have to spend time for work in a week. So, that’s why I say that I can’t leave my work on this holiday. Second, from my first reason, this holiday is too little time for me to go home.
Some people will think that to take fasting and celebration day in Saudi Arabia is very nice than Indonesia. Because they think that there is the center of Moslem. It’s true, especially the people who grew with the culture of it. For the new comer, they just feel that they will enjoy or feel better if they celebrate Idul Fitri in their own country such as Saudi Arabia. But, all of this statement depends on the people who celebrate Idul Fitri. I mean, when we have grown in our own country and culture, we all have felt that we feel better staying in our own country to celebrate Idul Fitri.
The Idul Fitri on this year is different with the last year. There are some differences on this year’s Idul Fitri. This year, the street is not as lonely as the last year. Before that, I want to say that there are also some differences of determining the date of Idul Fitri on this year. As I have read at thejakartapost.com on October 14th 2006, Muslims here could begin celebrating Idul Fitri on different days later this month, with Muhammadiyah deciding to end Ramadhan fasting on Oct. 22. The nation’s second-largest Muslim organization with some 30 million followers says it will celebrate Idul Fitri on Oct. 23, a day ahead of the date scheduled on the national calendar. “Muslims grouped in Muhammadiyah will perform Idul Fitri prayers on Oct. 23 to celebrate Idul Fitri,” organization chairman Din Syamsuddin said here Friday. Based on the group’s hisab, or astrological calculations, this year’s Ramadhan began on Sept. 24 and will last for only 29 days.
Din said the decision was final and not open to interpretation. Meanwhile, Nadhlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Muslim organization with around 40 million members, said it had not yet set the final day for Idul Fitri celebrations. Prayers could begin either on Oct. 23 or Oct. 24, depending on the rukyah or sighting of the moon. NU deputy leader Masdar Farid Mas’udi said the group would deploy rukyah team members across the country on Oct. 22 for the sighting. Should the moon be seen, NU followers would also begin Idul Fitri on Oct. 23. In an attempt to fix a single date for the celebrations, the government plans to hold a meeting on Oct. 22 with NU, Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) at the Religious Affairs Ministry. MUI secretary general Ikhwan Syam said the meeting’s decision would be based on the NU’s rukyah findings. However, Din said while Muhammadiyah would attend the meeting, it would stick to its hisab system. “Muhammadiyah respects possible differences because there is no accurate method to determine the dates for great Islamic celebrations. We should bear in mind that such differences are a gift from Allah,” he said.
Din advised the government not to meddle in religious issues to avoid confusing Muslims. The state’s proper role in Ramadhan was to determine the statutory holidays, not to intervene in theological debates, he said. Muslims here have many times celebrated Idul Fitri on consecutive days because of the different methods used to determine the end of fasting.
If we see again in the last year, the government was just once to determine the date of Idul Fitri. It was on 3 to 4 November 2005. I want to add the explanation the difference of determining Idul Fitri on this year. this year’s Idul Fitri, as I read at depdagri.go.id on October 20th 2006, The Minister for Religious Affairs, Maftuh Basyuni said the determining of Idul Fitri date 1 Syawal 1427 Hijriah was not a wrangle. He also said although the Muhammadiyah has determined the Idul Fitri date fell on October 23 2006, but the government just determined the Idul Fitri date at the time of the Itsbat session that will be held on Sunday, on October 22 2006.
In Idul Fitri day, the ANTARA News wrote, Thousands of Muslims performed Idul Fitri prayers at the Al Azhar grand mosque in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Monday morning with Rusdi Hamka as preacher. Al Azhar mosque is one of several places in Jakarta carrying out an Idul Fitri prayer service after Muhammadiyah (one of the largest Muslim organizations) set the first day of Syawal 1427 Hijriah of the Islamic calender for Muslims in celebrating their Idul Fitri festivity on Monday (Oct 23, 2006).
The government on Sunday (Oct 22) through "Itsbat" (a meeting to decide the first day of the month of Syawal ) set the first day of Syawal on Tuesday (Oct 24), the same as the national calendar which would be followed by Idul Fitri prayers. The difference in setting the first day of Syawal to celebrate Idul Fitri day should not be made as a source of debate, but just perform Idul Fitri prayers in full confidence, Mishbachul Munir, an astoronomist of the Markazul Falakiyah Islamic Boarding School in Magelang, Central Java province, said on Saturday. "If the calender calculation which has its own base turns out to be different, the celebration of Idul Fitri should be done in full confidence. Muslims have the freedom to perform Idul Fitri prayers on the basis of the existing calender calculation," he said. "It`s up to them as long as they refrain from blaming one another," he said. On the occasion, Rusdi Hamka called on Muslims to repent and ask God for forgiveness relating to the recent national disasters that happened in the country such as earthquakes, tsunami and bird flu.
Beside the all of changes on above, there’s also the changes of passanger’s total in every station after Idul Fitri. The jakartapost.com on October 30th 2006 wrote, after experiencing a series of agonizingly slow, hot and cramped trips to his hometown during the Idul Fitri holidays, Handoyo decided to find a better way. "We previously spent most of our time in traffic because so many people were returning home at the same time," the 27-year-old office worker from East Java's Malang said. "To avoid that, I prefer to return (home) after Lebaran."
This year, Handoyo and his family left for East Java a week later, against the conventional influx to Jakarta. "That way, we can still enjoy a holiday without having to suffer during the bus ride," he said. And many other people have the same idea, as several bus stations filled up with departing travelers during the weekend, the same time as hundreds more buses returned to the city. On Sunday, South Jakarta's Lebak Bulus station reported 2,988 departing passengers against the 4,594 arriving from other cities.That morning, the crowds leaving for their hometowns and their piles of luggage exceeded those who were arriving.
"This year's holiday traffic is not as dense as several years ago. And we are also seeing a lot of people returning home after Idul Fitri, instead of before," said M. Noer, a policeman in charge of passenger monitoring at the station. Noer said the station saw a drop in the number of passengers leaving compared to last year's data. East Jakarta's Pulogadung bus station reported a similar scene, with the number of people returning to Jakarta dropping by 31 percent from the same period last year, while the number of departing passengers rose by 15 percent.
In Kampung Rambutan station, also in East Jakarta, the number of departing passengers rose above the daily normal average of 9,000, station officer Oloan said. "The number of arriving passengers ranges around the normal numbers we saw last year," he said. Meanwhile, West Jakarta's Kalideres bus station saw a 50 percent drop in passengers during the holiday period, from some 120,000 passengers in 2005, to less than 60,000 this year. Station officer Wahono said the slump in demand was caused by the rising price of bus tickets and people choosing to leave the city later.
As a result, train stations in the city have begun to see an increase in the number of returning passengers. "By Sunday morning, we saw a 15 percent increase in returning passengers as against some 185,774 we recorded last year," Senen station officer A. Sudharta told the Antara news agency. "Saturday was the busiest day as there was a total of 27,000 people arriving," he said. State train company PT Kereta Api Greater Jakarta spokesman Ahmad Sujadi estimated a total of 77,000 people would have arrived at five train stations in the city by Sunday.
In fact, many local people around the Glagahsari street have celebrated the Idul Fitri on 23 October 2006. after the Itsbat session, the government determined the date of Idul Fitri fell on October 24 2006 (www.hariansib.com on October 22th 2006). As I have said above, this is one of the different on this year’s Idul Fitri.
When I looked around the street where I was walking, many people went home and It made the street very quiet. The Jogja city was very quiet especially on October 20th. Before that day, I found many people on the street buying some food to prepare their breaking fast. More and more after 20 October, I could count the sum of people that I saw around the street, I said that day, like the night that stayed at 1.00 a.m. It’s caused that many people have gone into their town or city. I know this case because I often walked through the street where I had to walk from that way to go to work. Everytime I walked from that way, I always saw the changes a situation.
After that, as I have said that many people celebrated the Idul Fitri on 23 October 2006 but this day was not like the last year. It means, the last year’s Idul Fitri was celebrated together at the exact time that the government had been determined. Some people thought and confused, what the Idul Fitri will be celebrated on 23 or 24 October. But, as I said that many people have celebrated on 23 October 2006. The people who celebrated on that date was not as much as the people who celebrated after that day (24 October 2006).
It’s wonderful day for people who celebrated the Idul Fitri. Many people got out from their house to meet other people. They apologized each other. This is one of the tradition that was done in the Idul Fitri to make them staying in a good relation with each other and also they did this because they loved each other. They used to do this about 3 to 4 days. They would meet their relative as far as they could do. On 26 October 2006, some people have come back from their hometown and it made that the Jogja city was back wildly./Wr. Immer
