salam kenall..

Bulan Puasa is always an interesting time of the year for all concerned. The alcohol in coffee mugs or plastic cups in some places, the reduced service hours at entertainment venues, and the like.

I always used to say sorry before eating and drinking in front of anyone during the fast hours. I do not do that anymore in the office. I guess my reasoning is that I have nothing to be sorry or apologetic for. I am not a Muslim and I am not breaking any rules religious or otherwise it I eat or drink (not yet anyway). For me respect is a two-way street; I respect your need to fast and you (not personal you but general you) respect the fact that I have no obligation to fast. Perhaps I am getting less tolerant in my old age for the niceties of “maaf, makan”.

BTW…the inclusion of the Happy Ending link was a nice touch during Ramadan.

Robs last blog post..Perception and Reality

Mr. Scotch, thanks for visiting, does your pesudo refer to your favorite drink or that you’re a Scotsman? Just wonder

Mrs. Top Monkey, exactly, we know people eat behind the curtain, sometimes we can even smell the meal so why need to block our vision if our mental state already say “hmmm, I can smell nasi goreng…. maybe that’s what I’m going to have for tonight”….?

What is the point of all this pretense of closing the shops when we all know that behind the curtains, business goes on as usual?

Mrs Top Monkeys last blog post..Little Monkey is 33 weeks old in me!

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You should send this article to Jakarta Post, it is a great piece It deserves to be read by as many people as possible. You can influence them with your positive attitude.

PS:
I’m more amazed that the Catholic school you went to actually allowed the students to smoke!!!

@Tere616: exactly. Why we should feel ‘holier’ than others just because we’re fasting? What we have with our God is a private relationship no one could interfere let alone be a judge. I just read in detik.com a high school student was beaten by ‘santri’ because they found him not fasting that day. Now how come their act was justified? They failed to practice the essence of fasting – yet thought they did a right thing. Weird.

@Santi: how embarrassing and self-centered that man was. Sadly Indonesia has successfully raised so many narrow-minded people like him.

@Diny: yes, when I was in Sydney I was working through out the summer in the ice cream shop whilst still fasting. Everybody was concerned and thought I might die of dehydration but I still managed though, even though I was selling thousands of ice creams to thirsty customers. It’s about self-discipline, and you’re right, we don’t need our government to babysit us!

@Lorraine: yes, the pubs must serve alcohol in tea cups otherwise “religious” groups like FPI will knock on their doors. And it is about survival rather than hypocrite. Entertainment venues have to pay yearly bonus plus staffs’ salaries, how do we expect them to do so if we demand them to close their business for the whole month?

Now that there are more and more moslem immigrants living in west Europe, they tend to force some tolerance (behaviour) towards fasting from their host countries like an example described by Santi above. Grown up in Indonesia, I’m used not to eat and drink in front of my moslems friends during the ramadan. But try to explain this to people who don’t have any clue about fasting…

Some immigrants in NL have even gone much further by insisting the Idul Fitri as a public holiday (FYI, Good Friday, the Friday before Easter Week End is not a public holiday anymore in NL). In some cultures Idul Fitri is celebrated in three days.

This is a very nice attempt of yours to open a dialog between moslems – non moslems, two thumbs up for you Nit!

Lorraines last blog post..Prinsjesdag 2008

Dinys last blog post..Door-to-door Religion