Ignorant people do not understand what ignorance is! As a matter of fact
Ignorant people don’t understand much at all; let alone the danger of giving
Their children a loaded gun to take to kindergarten.
It was disturbing to hear the news this week as the month of Ramadan draws to a close that a hitherto unknown preacher from Florida was planning a “Guy Fawkes” night to incite hatred amongst his 30 ignorant followers. It is even more disturbing that seemingly well read and knowledgeable people in the media have flocked like Lemmings to the waters of Florida to aid and abet a potential act of stupidity.
The mono culture of the media, driven by ratings rather than common sense have unintentionally assisted a single “Nutter” of limited intellectual capacity to bring about an act of terrorism against millions of people who follow the Muslim faith.
This month in Indonesia is the season of Ramadhan, the most holy of month for followers of the Muslim religion. In Yogyakarta Central Java, is the Koran belt of Indonesia where the density of mosques is greater than one per square kilometer?
Generally Ramadham is a quiet month of reflection. Lebaran, the holiday period immediately after Ramadham where people like to return to their birth place a celebrate by giving presents.
. During this time I have been helping a number of European university students who are undertaking post graduate research in Yogyakarta.
The problems they face in undertaking controversial research on violence towards women, self government in Papua and various government policy issues is in getting information and identifying people who are prepared to talk about these subjects.
The European academics that I have been talking to have been so well trained that they have not learnt to be street smart and worldly. They planned and timed their research studies in Indonesia completely unaware of how the month of Ramadham would have on their activities.
How does the month of Ramadhan impact on an expatriate
Like Christianity The Muslim religion has both a religious and social and political aspects. In the West our media had reported widely on the political aspects of the Moslem religion as anarchic acts by some followers have captured our attention.
Here in Indonesia and in Java particularly where the overwhelming majority of the population practice the Moslem religion. Each day the call to prayer, amplified over a loudspeaker system is hard to ignore as are the rather large gatherings of men at the mosques at midday on Fridays. Apart from these noticeable acts few of us in the west know very little detail of the fasting month of Ramadhan.
While I had lived in Jakarta some years ago I never felt the impact of Ramadham .
Here in Yogyakarta, no one can escape the influence of Ramadan.
Because people fast between 4.30 am and 6.pm most restaurants and small food stalls are closed during the day.
To find something to eat for lunch one has to hunt around for a Chinese Restaurant. While you can buy alcohol the shelves stocking it are covered with paper or cloth to avoid temptation.
A few days ago it was raining and we felt like having some Lamb and a bottle of red wine. We rode the motor bike through teaming rain along roads that were like rivers six inches deep on a mission for wine .
Arriving at the specialist shop dripping wet, we asked for a bottle of wine. The shop assistant replied that they do not sell wine during Ramadham.
And that was that.!
The usually crowded streets are less crowded, no one smokes between the fasting hours and as a consequence the motorbike riders and car drivers are abnormally frustrated by the self deprivation of food and cigarettes. The increase in the number of accidents and near misses makes one extra cautious.
At work the staff are either lethargic, unmotivated or not at the office at all.
There does not seem any enthusiasm to begin new projects and when I suggest a meeting with villages I am told it will be better to wait until Ramadhan is over.
Waiting three hours for a village meeting
There are exceptions .Last week we were visiting a village to inspect new Goat houses that have been recently constructed. It was a long day without eating and we had to wait for three hours for a meeting with farmers as they were still out in the fields cutting grass due to the overnight and early morning rain.
The meeting began at 4.00pm and dragged on into the evening. However at sunset, a few minutes before 6.00pm we heard the call to prayer from a number of Mosques, then food began to appear. The local Muslim villagers were sensitive to our need to eat and appreciated out constraint during the day even though we had no access to food even if we desired it.
The food presented was both abundant and delicious and better than the usual village food. Of course as the eating began so did the smoking and within a few minutes we were all sitting in a fog of cigarette smoke.
Back in Yogyakarta I have noticed a several men walking naked along the road and one sitting cross legged on the side of the road meditating. At this time a wide range of different behaviour is acceptable as the spirit moves people in different ways. In addition people discipline themselves not to have arguments or to think badly of other people as those selfish acts will nullify their cleansing behaviour of prayer and self sacrifice for the day.
By late afternoon numerous temporary food stalls spring up along the main roads waiting for the six o’clock swill as fasting for the day ends. The stalls sell fruit and sweet drinks for those feeling dehydrated by 14 hours of abstinence.
So far it has been quiet apart from loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer . The first call is at 4.30 am, then at midday , then at 3.00 pm and at 6.00pm.
One evening around 6.00 pm I noted that there were hardly any people at the supermarket and when I enquired I was told that it is full moon and most people were celebrating at home or at the mosque.
As the fasting month Ramadhan is coming to an end and the joyous holiday period of Lebaran is a bout to begin the shops are displaying gift packs over one meter high filled with sweets, biscuits and other temptations.
This month every wage earner receives and additional month’s salary known as the Lebaran bonus. This is the first day of the three day Lebaran holiday that stretches out to two weeks was marked by an almost complete absence of people on the streets, the supermarkets were closed and almost all other shops and businesses as well.
Thank god the circle K store that sells beer was open. I noticed that the paper covering the beer had been removed from the glass door of the freezer cabinet.
The beggars on the street corners next to the traffic lights who are always there have grown in number and instead of a plastic cup for donation s they have large cardboard boxes as Ramadham is the season where the faithful are obliged to give.
During the holidays people return to their home towns to celebrate with their families and the airports, train and bust stations are bursting with people with boxes of gifts to take home to their families.
In order to reduce congestion, trucks are banned from the roadways except those carrying essential good such as food, cooking oil, gas and medical supplies. These trucks are only permitted to travel between 7.00 pm and 7.00 am.
Consequently the businesses that require supplies that have to be transported are closed for two weeks as well.
One has to be careful not to treat the followers of Islam as one unified homogeneous group. Like football fans in Australia during the finals. While to the outsider they may appear on mass to be all the same when in fact they are not.
Each football fan is usually fiercely loyal to one team and can only see football in terms of club colours. As their scarves testify; the blue and whites stick together and make rude gestures to the followers of the red and white scarf wearers on the way to the game, during the game and on the trains following the game.
Likewise in Indonesian the Muslim religion is like Christianity in that it is composed of many different sub cultures and is not uniform in either the belief or behavioral practice.
The late President Suharto during his presidency of 30 years banned the wearing of the Hijab largely because he did not want to face a united political force of Islam while dealing with other unified groups such as those in Ache, Papua and East Timor as well as big business in Jakarta
It is only when the Muslim population feels threatened by either verbal statements or political actions like those proposed by Pastor Terry Jones that they can put their differences to one side and begin to act as a united political force.
As the vast majority of Muslim adherents are tolerant to other religions as we also need to be tolerant to them. Some right and left wing extremists in Australia in their ignorance of the Muslim religion make statements that many Muslims find offensive and often these comments serve to weaken the tolerance of Muslims to the west.
The words and possible actions of Pastor Jones have reached the ears of the President of Indonesia.
The President said that if the burning of copies of the Koran takes place it will be a disaster for the planet. Is this the truth?
