by Bambang Purwanto
JAKARTA, Aug 11 (NNN-XINHUA) – Facing surging cases of the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesian Muslims, especially those who work in big cities, remained at home, on the eve of the Islamic New Year yesterday.
Muslims in big cities used to return to their homes to celebrate the holiday, by attending sermons at mosques and sharing various foods and drinks with family members, relatives and friends. Children would play around with torchlights while citing laudations to Prophet Muhammad in the evening.
The Indonesian government moved the public celebration of the Islamic New Year from Aug 10 to Aug 11 (today), to prevent people from travelling outside the cities, to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases.
Danu Sucipto, a government employee in Bandung city, West Java province, did not return to Jakarta, where he was born and his family currently lives, to celebrate the Islamic New Year.
Sucipto said, he just stayed at home reading the Quran and praying, while his wife prepared foods and drinks to celebrate the festival on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the Islamic calendar.
“I also asked my two sons not to go out for any activities in the evening, as they used to join a torchlight carnival and march around the village while beating drums.”
Budi Suratno, a manager of a department store in Jakarta, who never missed any holidays to return to his village in Pacitan district, East Java province, also chose to stay at home with his wife and two sons.
“We recited verses of the Quran and attended a sermon at a mosque, with a limited number of worshippers. I’ve learned that the government only allows a mosque to receive people by about 25 percent of the total capacity,” Suratno told Xinhua.
KH Musa Harris, who manages a mosque in East Jakarta, called on his congregation not to go to the mosque for this year’s event, amid the current pandemic.
“We chose not to organise any ceremonial activities this time. In the past, we would send alms and meals to orphans and the poor,” said Harris.
The Indonesian government, on Monday, decided to extend the public activity restrictions, locally known as PPKM, in Java and Bali until Aug 16, and in the areas outside Java and Bali till Aug 23.
The policy allows worship places, including mosques, to accommodate no more than 25 percent of their capacity.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 32,081 within one day to 3,718,821, with the death toll adding by 2,048 to 110,619, the health ministry said, yesterday.– NNN-XINHUA
