Govt declares August 22 as first day of Ramadhan

Govt declares August 22 as first day of Ramadhan
Friday, August 21, 2009 00:05 WIB | National | | Viewed 447 time(s)

(ANTARA/Saiful Bahri)Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government has declared August 22 as the first day of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadhan.

In a meeting to confirm the start of the fasting month led by Religious Affairs Minister Muhammad Maftuh Basyuni at the ministry here on Thursday, the government also confirmed the hisab (calculation system) and rukyat (moon sighting system) body as the permanent institution charged with conducting hisab and rukyat to determine the beginning and end of the fasting month.

"We have already established the institution since July 14, 2009," the minister said at the meeting held at the ministry.

The meeting that day was attended by the minister of communications and information M Nuh, the associate chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, Prof Dr Umar Shihab, the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives` Commission VIII, Said Abdullah, leaders of Islamic organizations, some foreign ambassadors and members of the ministry`s hisab and rukyat agency.

The minister said he agreed for the hisab and rukyat agency to conduct hisab and rukyat every month as proposed by the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah organizations.

"I agreed for it to conduct a meeting every month and if necessary by inviting differing parties," he said.

He said this year monitoring was done in nine places in the country using sophisticated lenses namely in Longa Aceh, Bosca Bandung, Pelabuhan Ratu in Sukabumi, West Java, Gresik and Lamongan in East Java, Semarang in Central Java, Kupang, Ternate and Makassar in eastern regions.

The chairman of the hisab and rukyat agency, Muchtar Ilyas, on the occasion presented the results of the monitoring that had been carried out across the country.
"Based on them it was agreed the start of the Ramadhan would be on August 22, 2009," he said.(*)