A crowd of more than a hundred people had gathered for the communal breaking of the fast, comprising not only Muslims but also Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists and Confucians.
Source/Credit: The Jakarta Globe
By Yuli Krisna | July 6, 2014
The call to prayer that also marked the moment for Muslims to break the fast echoed out in the most unlikely of places — the hall of the Virgin Mary the Untainted Heart Catholic Church on Jalan Suryalaya Raya in Bandung.
A crowd of more than a hundred people had gathered for the communal breaking of the fast, comprising not only Muslims but also Catholics, Protestants, Hindus, Buddhists and Confucians.
The event, held on Monday evening, the second day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, was an age-old example of Indonesia’s increasingly overlooked tradition of religious tolerance; a rare occasion where leaders and worshipers of different faiths could sit at one place and enjoy a wide array of snacks commonly found on offer during Ramadan.
The crowd had gathered hours before the maghrib, or sunset, call to prayer, which signals the end of the day’s fast.
Sitting side by side, the members of the different religious groups enjoyed a performance ranging from songs by a church choir to Islamic chants, everything in between, including a special recital by children with autism.
“All the different [religious] groups, institutions and organizations are committed to making this holy month a time to reflect and strengthen our faith as well as a time to create harmony and rekindle our bonds,” Ignatius Yunanto, a church official and head of the committee that organized the get-together, told the Jakarta Globe.
The organizers also invited the city’s poor from all walks of life, from becak (rickshaw) drivers and parking attendants, to domestic workers, buskers, scavengers and street children, as well as kids with special needs and differently-abled persons.
Also present were members of the Ahmadiyah, a Muslim minority group that has in recent years come under increasing attack from Sunni hard-liners across West Java.
The fast-breaking event was part of the annual “Dialogue for Humanity and Unity” program that tours the nation and was initiated to promote religious tolerance by Shinta Nuriyah Wahid, the widow of the late former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who many Indonesians consider a champion of religious and ethnic tolerance.
The program, in its 14th running this year, is staged throughout Ramadan in different cities across Indonesia. But Bandung holds a special place for Shinta.
“I am always happy whenever the tour stops in Bandung, because here we can see just how beautiful and wonderful our diversity can be,” she said.
The program “is especially made for those whom the government often neglects, so [the poor] can perform their fasting as best as they can.”
She said it would also help Muslims reflect on what the annual tradition of fasting symbolized.
Shinta added that the program was also aimed at rekindling the unity and harmony between Indonesians, and called for people of all religions and races to stage similar religious events and gatherings. “Not only in churches, but in temples or open spaces or anywhere,” the former first lady said.
The event left an impression on 40-year-old becak driver Dadan Sutisna. “I got to meet new friends and have the opportunity to become brothers with people of different faith,” he said.
For Yos Roswandi, head of the West Java chapter of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation, the event offered a glimpse of hope for religious tolerance in the country. “It shows that we can respect each other’s faith, we can set aside our ethnic and religious differences. Shinta is the glue to this togetherness,” he said.
And just hours after the fast-breaking event, the organizers hosted a pre-fast meal at St. Michael Church on Jalan Waringin in Bandung on Tuesday morning, inviting vendors and trash scavengers operating at a nearby traditional market to take part.
Read original post here: Gus Dur’s Message of Pluralism Lives On in Annual Fast-Breaking Tradition
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