As we approach the end of April, most of the major work on the house has been completed. Floorboards are down on the lower level, balustrades are completed upstairs and down and the most incredible looking limestone tiles have been fixed to the walls of our ensuite bathroom.
Most of the tukang have now packed up and gone. A couple have stayed behind and are re-painting the walls upstairs after I discovered they had done the first two coats with watered-down paint. Once they are done we will be ready to to start fitting off the bathrooms and adding lighting and finishing touches.
April 23, 2020 sees the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
As 93% of Indonesians are Muslim, Ramadan, like Christmas in the west, is the most important religious and social event of the year.
Ramadan takes place on the ninth month of the Islamic Lunar Calendar which means the start date varies slightly from year to year.
The start date is taken from the first crescent moon to appear after the new moon. A period of fasting and personal reflection then lasts for 30 days or until the next crescent moon appears in the night sky.
While science can accurately pick the arrival of the new crescent moon from month to month, most Muslims prefer to wait until they can see it with their own eyes before formally commencing the fasting period.
It is therefore a source of great excitement and pride for most Indonesians that, thanks to their geographic location, they are the first to witness the new crescent moon every year and they have the great honour of being able to announce it’s arrival to the rest of the Muslim world.
During the fasting month Muslims are expected to refrain from eating, drinking, smoking tobacco and taking medication, as well as not having sex or indulging in sinful activities, such as gambling.
Some will also give up watching tv or listening to music and instead spend that time listening to or reciting passages from the Qu’uran. (Koran)
For the next 30 days my family rise around 3am to eat a hearty breakfast before fasting from 5am until 6pm, when they all sit down together again to take their evening meal.
End of fasting clockwise from rear left – Ian, Kevin, Fajar, Kezia, Hani
Despite the hunger pangs, the cravings, the thirst, Muslims around the world look forward to and fully embrace their annual month of abstinence, taking great comfort in the knowledge that their personal sacrifice is a way of giving thanks to a higher power and that their tribute is being offered together with millions of others around the globe.
As it’s school vacation at this time of year in Indonesia, Kevin and Kezia generally avoid the hunger pains by staying up all night before sleeping their way through the day.
Before the arrival of Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism were the predominant religions of Sumatera, Java and Bali. The islands to the west of Bali were mainly animist and many were later converted to Christianity.
The influence of Islam spread gradually through Indonesia from the late 13th century via merchants and scholars but over a period of two or three centuries ultimately supplanted the major Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms of Sumatera and Java.
But just as the rise of Hindu-Buddhist culture incorporated many of the traditions and customs that came before it, Islam didn’t completely eradicate Hindu-Buddhist thinking but rather incorporated non-Islamic elements into the new religion, often reframing local customs as Islamic traditions.
By the 16th century, the last great Hindu-Javanese kingdom had fallen to Islamic rule and the old Hindu-Javanese aristocracy fled to Bali which became the last stronghold of Hindu culture in Indonesia and remains so to this day.
Today, with over 200 million followers, Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation, however it is not an Islamic State. Choice of religion is a right under the Indonesian Constitution and the Government officially recognises six major religions.
By virtue of my upbringing my values are largely Christian, however I’m not really sold on organised religion but nor do I buy into any of the fear mongering that goes on towards Muslims by many in the west, usually people who have no idea what they’re talking about.
I can’t count the number of times I have travelled alone around lesser known and more remote parts of this country and have been offered nothing less than friendship, guidance and support by warm-hearted, good-natured people.
Sure, you can have reservations about anybody, but do your research.
Islam is the youngest of the three major religions practiced in the world today. The Koran also acknowledges the prophet Jesus as well as all the Judeo-Christian prophets as far back as Abraham.
So essentially, Jews, Christians and Muslims all recognise the same deity.
And all three religions are Middle Eastern philosophies.
In ancient times, Arabic Christians even referred to God using the word “Allah”.
While some might disagree with this interpretation, the historical lineage referred to in the Koran is hard to dispute.
Any talk about terrorists or extremists only being Muslims was extinguished, to my mind at least, the day an Australian man, Brenton Tarrant, walked into a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand and began live-streaming himself murdering 51 innocent men, women and children as they were engaged in prayer.
That type of callous disregard for human life is abhorrent in the extreme and has no basis in rational thought.
Murder is also an unforgivable sin in Islamic culture and completely indefensible to most Muslim people’s way of thinking.
The 2002 Bali bombings are, unfortunately, one example where a small number of deranged individuals, in this case, Indonesian extemists, sought to make an example of western decadence and immorality but instead earned worlwide shock and condemnation for the merciless killing over 200 innocent people.
The attack was also a huge slap in the face to Indonesia’s Hindu community in Bali, whose main source of income, the tourism industry, was crippled for many years to follow.
In spite of these attacks, Indonesians are overwhelmingly a deeply spiritual people who, over the course of their 5,000 year history have embraced and absorbed a diverse range of influences and beliefs.
In the 21st century, the Islamic faith underpins family and community life in most parts of the country and provides a strong sense of support, belonging and cohesion.
Dewi’s mother and father were Indonesian Christians who converted to Islam many years ago. The children were all given a chance to make their own decisions and one by one, they all became Muslims.
Like all good Muslims, Dewi prays five times a day and she has discussed with me the chance that I will maybe, one day, embrace her faith. I tell her that if I was going to choose a religion it would most likely be Hindu or Buddhist as they are the most peaceful religions.
But as she quickly points out, that is not the case and I only need to look at what is happening to Muslim populations in India and also Myanmar to know that she is right.
My main issue with accepting the teachings of mainstream religions is that the ancient religious texts were written many centuries ago by men. Men of learning to be sure, but written by men, not by God.
On what basis am I to blindly accept that theirs is the word of one true God?
You only need to hear the rumble like thunder of an earthquake and to feel the ground trembling beneath your feet, as I have in Lombok, to know that there is a higher and far greater power alive in the universe than us. And to know that we are an insignficant species, quite powerless in it’s presence.
I’m sure that this power almighty is what all the ancient texts allude to when they talk about Yahweh, about God, about Allah. And they all offer a similar framework for their followers to lead a good and humble life.
Now, being good won’t necessarily save you from an earthquake or a fire or flood or pestilence, (or coronavirus or climate change) but it does make sense. Do good things and good things will generally follow.
I fully recognise the benefit that prayer and religious observance brings to communities around the world but I personally struggle with the idea of praying five times a day or going to church on Sunday to honour ancient customs or to appease a naturally occurring force in the universe.
Especially when, throughout history, people have been so willing to kill each other in the name of some higher power.
The life force or energy that occurs in the universe exists in all of us. We are part of it. We are connected.
Rather than claiming our God is the one true God, better we try to come together as a collected whole and do more to look after this tiny part of the universe we’ve inherited.
A modern day prayer.
As the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close, Dewi and her aunts begin busily preparing for the Eid’l Fitri feast.
Eid’l Fitri is the celebratory meal that marks the end of the fasting month which is then traditionally followed by three or more
days of catching up and sharing a meal with friends and extended family.
In Indonesia it is a time when many millions of people return to their villages to be with family.
Can you see where this is going?
This year, the Indonesian government has given notice that people have until the last day of fasting to leave for their villages before a nationwide travel ban is declared.
In some ways it looks like the government has just lit a match under a sure-fire, nation-wide superspreader event.
But there is possibly some method in the madness.
Giving people a deadline to leave Jakarta mobilises potentially millions of people to move out the city before the official three day holiday period and the travel ban begins.
Many people working in Jakarta also take their annual leave at this time of year meaning they will be out of the city for an extended period.
Perhaps that will leave the capital with fewer people to deal with and hopefully give hospital’s and health authorities a little breathing space and maybe leave them better equipped to deal with the people who have stayed behind.
In effect, a mini circuit-breaker.
It is never officially described this way and many in the media question the wisdom of allowing people to return to their villages in the middle of a pandemic.
But maybe social distancing protocols, if properly followed, will be easier to achieve in the less sparsely populated villages than they will in Jakarta. And perhaps the caseload of infected patients can be spread out more evenly amongst the hospitals of some of the other major city centres in Java.
This certainly seems to be the thinking to me, as the government locks out all but essential workers returning to the city at the end of their annual break.
Reported cases numbers do drop in Jakarta and around the country for the two weeks immediately after fasting but unfortunately it is a only a reflection of less people being tested over the holiday period.
From early June case numbers are on the rise again and a second epicentre has emerged. The East Javanese port city of Surabaya is seeing case numbers surge as people return to the city from their villages.
I’m getting snippets of information about case numbers in Lombok but the official data bundles Lombok in with the neighbouring islands of Sumbawa and Sumba, the three islands which together, make up the administrative region known as Nusa Tenggara Barat.
Apparently the old harbour district of Ampenan is a red zone and no-one is allowed to travel in our out.
Ampenan no longer has a port but it was once an important trading centre for fisherman and merchants from all over the archipelago and this is still reflected in the number of different communities that continue to live and trade there today alongside Chinese and Arab merchants who also have long standing historical connections.
As all these groups make their way to and from their villages and their homelands, Ampenan is a perfect breeding ground for the spread of infection.
Mataram is variously described as hovering somewhere between red and yellow zones. But case numbers appear to be worse on the more sparsely populated island of Sumbawa, where Covid messaging is either not being enforced or is simply being ignored.
Bali is still reporting very few cases however there has been a sudden spike in reported numbers of dengue fever, a tropical virus spread by mosquito’s, which has symptoms very similar to Coronavirus.
Really! How very interesting.
Heavy rains fall overnight, pushed sideways by a strong easterly. The eastern face of our living room is directly exposed and rain reaches more than two metres into our living room.
We won’t be moving in until after the pool has been built so it’s no big setback but I ask Harry who had that brilliant idea.
Oh. Me.
We decide to build a timber screen along the eastern boundary wall with a clear fibreglass roof running front to back between thefence and the side of the house.
It’s a great effect and one that will work well with the indoor/outdoor garden.
And now it’s time to build a swimming pool.