It's Fasting Month

This month, from July 20^th until August 26^th, is fasting month for Muslims in Indonesia. Since roughly 86% of the population (according to Wikipedia) are practicing Muslims, this means that there are lots and lots of people who are only eating between the hours of sunset and dawn. Here I want to share what I’ve learned and experienced about this holy time for Muslims in Batam. First, a glance at my life as a teacher during fasting month at my multi-religious school…

At my school, three religions are represented and taught: Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity. I think we actually have more students from Buddhist families than the other two, as we have a large Chinese student population (at school, and in Batam generally) who are mostly Buddhist. There is a small group of students from Christian families, as certain Indonesian tribes / communities are Christian historically (since Holland invaded Indonesia around 350 years ago, but that’s a topic for another day). As far as I know, no other religions are represented at our school, and not being religious is not an option: in Indonesia, everyone must declare a religion, and there are only six choices – Islam, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

At the beginning of the school week, to mark the start of Ramadan, there were two half days of religious activities in lieu of regular classes. The students were separated into three groups according to their religion, and the rest of what went on is somewhat of a mystery to me. My only involvement in the events came on Monday towards the end of the days activities, when the Headmaster announced to all teachers that everyone should go and help out because “there are many students and only one teacher”. He assigned most teachers to go to their respective religious groups, but there was a shortage of teachers of the Buddhist faith (about two thirds of teachers are Muslim and the rest are Christian, except for three Buddhists and one atheist). When the Headmaster asked my teaching colleague, who is German, what religion he was, my colleague replied “I have no religion.” This was met with what can only be described a loud nervous giggle from the 50 something year old male headmaster.

I also joined the Buddhist group, who first needed 20 minutes just to figure out where they were going to sit. In the end, one of the only non air-conditioned spaces in the school was chosen for around 40 students to sit on the floor and pay attention to a few older students with something to say about Buddhism. Actually, it was really only one older student doing all the work. I’m not sure of the content of her dialogue since she spoke in Indonesian, but after about 10 minutes she turned to me and my colleague and said “Miss, do you know any games or songs?” Two expat teachers, one saxophone, and a few ‘repeat-after-me’ songs later, it was time (thank your respective deity) for lunch. Well, for the Buddhists at least.

Outside of school, the Muslim fasting month affects everyone, not only Muslims. Most restaurants are closed during the day, and re-open just before sunset. Hadi and I went to one restaurant lat night, arriving at 6pm. The restaurant was full, but no-one was eating. Everyone had already ordered, some even had their meals in front of them already, but they weren’t able to eat until it was time. I couldn’t quite figure out how they decided when it was okay to start eating, since some groups began while others continued to wait. I started eating as soon as my food arrived, but felt a bit awkward doing so, since the group on the table next to us hadn’t started yet. It’s so easy to feel paranoid in situations like that, worried that I’m making a huge faux pas, drawing even more attention to myself than I already do just by being a foreigner. Last weekend I was waiting outside a shop during the day, drinking. When Hadi came out, he advised me to stop drinking, out of respect for the people around me who were fasting. However, when I later asked him at work if it was okay for me to eat a snack at my desk in the teachers’ office, he said “of course hunny, go ahead”, even though most of the teachers in my office are fasting. Can I get a HUH?

The entertainment industry is also effected during Ramadan. There are two main sources of entertainment in Batam – karaoke booths and the cinema. Karaoke booths are closed, but the cinemas aren’t. Can I get another HUH? I asked a colleague, who is Muslim, to explain why karaoke booths must close but the cinema not, and also how people know when they are allowed to start eating. The answer to the first question was essentially “I don’t know” and the answer to the second question was that eating can begin after 4:45. When I asked why so many people were still not eating at 6pm, I was told that it had something to do with prayer time, and that the time changes slightly every day. When I asked again to try to understand why different groups in the restaurant had started eating at different times, I was just told again that they can start eating after sunset. Hmm.

I guess this is very much an example of the majority setting the standard, and the minorities – in this case anyone who is not of the Muslim faith, having no choice but to accept the situation, whether it makes sense or not. It makes me wonder what it must be like for people of various cultures and religions living in England. Although the UK seems like a very secular place to most Brits, there are of course many customs and traditions that are Christian in origin and are still practiced every year by the majority of the population, whether they consider themselves practicing Christians or not. Christmas Day is the most obvious example, with most retailers (those with shops bigger than 3000sq ft) being required by law to close in order to preserve the day as “special”. A similar sizeist (that’s a word, isn’t it?) rule applies on Sundays in the UK, with large shops only allowed to open for 6 hours, between the hours of 10-6pm. And, sorry but this made me laugh…I just read online that the Sunday Trading Laws will be suspended for eight weeks this year during the Olympics and Paralympics. HUH?