Ramadhan is an important and meaningful month for every muslim. It is the month of fasting, worshiping, and giving. Of course it doesn’t mean that those good deeds can be done only in this special month, but it is expected that one can train himself / herself to enhance one’s faith and overcome one’s desire in this month then one can eventually get it in practice at the rest of the months.
Having Ramadhan in Japan is very much interesting and delighting, because Japan is one among the best respectful societies to other nations and beliefs. Here, we can freely practice our religious activities as long as we are respecting to the law and culture and creating a good communication with people and the local government. For example, we need to inform the authority when a big muslim occasion is going to take place at a certain date and location.
There are alot of muslim students studying at Hiroshima University (Hirodai) every year. They come from various nationalities and cultures. Asia, Africa and Arab are among the most dominant nationalities of the muslim students. Of course we can also find some Japanese, European and American muslims.
To facilitate our Islamic activities and culture in Hiroshima, we established a muslim league so-called Saijo Muslims Association (SMA), which is organized by a presidential commitee chosen from representative nationalities. Last year it was chaired by a Bangladesh brother, and for the next year it will be chaired by our Indonesian brother. Through SMA, we are managing a-rent house that we use for meetings, events and even it can also be utilized for a mosque. Hence, we call it an Islamic Cultural Center (ICC).
During the holy month of Ramadhan this year, we had several groups of taraweeh prayer, because the rent-house is too small to cover all muslims. Indonesian students had their own taraweeh, Arabian people had their own’s and so on. But of course SMA itself conducted a taraweeh prayer at ICC, where we had a 30 juz (chapter) program in order to complete 30 juz of Qur’an recitation in one month of Ramadhan. Therefore, there is no reason for us to be so weak in implementing ramadhan though we are away from home.
This year, eid al-fithr (idul fitri) was very special moment, because it has been celebrated by almost all muslims in the world on the same day. Starting from the exotic island in Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, to England in Atlantic Ocean, all muslims including Indonesian students and citizens celebrated this sacred day on September 20th.
During the eid prayer, we were circulating the microphon so that we could hear the takbeer from various accents and dialects. We could notice how the takbeer chorus from Arabian brothers are different from that of Pakistani brothers and so on. That is really enjoyful, delighting and colorful feeling to be having a multi-national eid day celebration in JICA’s building Hiroshima. Eid al-fithr is not only the day for break-fasting after one month fasting in Ramadhan, but also the day of giving and sharing among muslims and other human beings.
For Indonesian people, the eid celebration was continued with a barbeque party at Kagamiyama Garden (Kagamiyama Koen). It was organized by Indonesian students and the foods were prepared by their wives and families. We were really satisfied with many kind of Indonesian foods like ketupat, empek-empek, opor, rendang, kerupuk etc. This party was attended by all students, kensusei (trainees) and other Indonesian families who live and work surrounding Hiroshima. After photographying session, we were finally back home with an overly full and satisfied stomach. We are gonna miss this memorable moment. (Hiroshima, 1 Syawwal 1430 H).***
Selasa, 22 September 2009
Jumat, 18 September 2009
Our Holiday System Created Mudik
By Endan Suwandana
Watching and observing mudik (homecoming travelers) from outside the country has given me such a feeling that might not be the same as that we are experiencing it by involving ourselves in it. While we are abroad, we can only observe and follow the annual homecoming travelers exodus occasion by reading news, watching TV or listening radio streaming from the internet.
Here, we made our room with a loud voice of Elsinta Radio streaming reporting some traffic events or interviewing some responsible officers in charge of police department. Sometimes we also heard the travelers being interviewed for getting their opinions about the situation, public service, road condition, etc. It has been much enough to bring our imagination back home and we are indeed missing that situation so much.
Away from family is actually something normal and usual for some people. But in such a time that we call it “Lebaran”, no one can be so surviving for being away from his/her relatives, because the atmosphere of home, of being with them where most of the family members present, is really an extraordinary event. This is a very miserable moment for being lonely as a human being due to the fact that human is a social creature that needs togethreness, possession and care from others.
Mudik is just beyond the ritual tradition. It’s not even taught by Islam. It’s just a development of human civilization and local culture that has been emerged and become an annual tradition for celebrating lebaran and doing farewell party for the blessing holy month of Ramadhan.
Mudik itself is not the essence of lebaran. But being with our parents, visiting them at least once a year, respecting them, making them happy, setting them at the position to be cared and loved by the children, are the most significant meaning of mudik. That’s what we understand why people have to take high risk by having long distance travel, traffic jam and high travel expenses, and most of them won’t leave it, because they are doing the most meaningful deed in Islam, which is visiting and respecting parents, family and friends.
Having concerned with mudik, we can observe that historically mudik was not our tradition at the ancient time. Indeed, it was our manner to come home, but not in a massive way and at a certain period of time like that of the present situation. Mudik has grown and become our social tradition that has been accidentally created by our society as a reflection of our holiday system running in our country.
As we know that we have only one long holiday season, that’s what we call it lebaran, while the rest of the days are working time. Therefore people utilize this only holiday season for visiting parents, relatives and friends in our home vilage, after one year collecting money. Lebaran is the only possible time for people to do such a thing in our country.
Moreover, we don’t have a kind of honeymoon holiday when someone gets married, and he/she has to get back for work one or two days after the party. As if we were just born for working. With this kind of holiday system how we can expect our domestic tourism to develope significantly and when we are able to have a chance to visit Toraja, Toba, Bali, and many other exotic places in Indonesia.
It is much different from other countries having four-season climate. In these countries, they manage their holiday system in such a way to welcome and celebrate each season with a long holiday. They have summer holiday, winter, autumn, spring, new year holiday and so on and so fort. Usually, the effective working time for thsese countries are only between eight or nine months, while the rests are holidays.
By having such a holiday system, some advantages can be achieved by the society, not only they get some opportunities of visiting parents and family regularly, but also their tourism industry becomes so powerful and valuable for the country because they have much time to explore some exciting places in their own country or to travel around the globe enjoying many remarkable places in the world.
Are we encouraged enough to make some innovations to our holiday system that may treat people at more humanitarian view and create possibility for themselves to love their own country by traveling and exploring it?
Endan Suwandana, M.Sc.
PhD Candidate
Graduate School for International Development Cooperation (IDEC) Hiroshima University
1-5-1 Kagamiya, Higashi Hiroshima, 739-8529, JAPAN
Ph: +81-82-424-6905 Fax: +81-82-424-6904
Watching and observing mudik (homecoming travelers) from outside the country has given me such a feeling that might not be the same as that we are experiencing it by involving ourselves in it. While we are abroad, we can only observe and follow the annual homecoming travelers exodus occasion by reading news, watching TV or listening radio streaming from the internet.
Here, we made our room with a loud voice of Elsinta Radio streaming reporting some traffic events or interviewing some responsible officers in charge of police department. Sometimes we also heard the travelers being interviewed for getting their opinions about the situation, public service, road condition, etc. It has been much enough to bring our imagination back home and we are indeed missing that situation so much.
Away from family is actually something normal and usual for some people. But in such a time that we call it “Lebaran”, no one can be so surviving for being away from his/her relatives, because the atmosphere of home, of being with them where most of the family members present, is really an extraordinary event. This is a very miserable moment for being lonely as a human being due to the fact that human is a social creature that needs togethreness, possession and care from others.
Mudik is just beyond the ritual tradition. It’s not even taught by Islam. It’s just a development of human civilization and local culture that has been emerged and become an annual tradition for celebrating lebaran and doing farewell party for the blessing holy month of Ramadhan.
Mudik itself is not the essence of lebaran. But being with our parents, visiting them at least once a year, respecting them, making them happy, setting them at the position to be cared and loved by the children, are the most significant meaning of mudik. That’s what we understand why people have to take high risk by having long distance travel, traffic jam and high travel expenses, and most of them won’t leave it, because they are doing the most meaningful deed in Islam, which is visiting and respecting parents, family and friends.
Having concerned with mudik, we can observe that historically mudik was not our tradition at the ancient time. Indeed, it was our manner to come home, but not in a massive way and at a certain period of time like that of the present situation. Mudik has grown and become our social tradition that has been accidentally created by our society as a reflection of our holiday system running in our country.
As we know that we have only one long holiday season, that’s what we call it lebaran, while the rest of the days are working time. Therefore people utilize this only holiday season for visiting parents, relatives and friends in our home vilage, after one year collecting money. Lebaran is the only possible time for people to do such a thing in our country.
Moreover, we don’t have a kind of honeymoon holiday when someone gets married, and he/she has to get back for work one or two days after the party. As if we were just born for working. With this kind of holiday system how we can expect our domestic tourism to develope significantly and when we are able to have a chance to visit Toraja, Toba, Bali, and many other exotic places in Indonesia.
It is much different from other countries having four-season climate. In these countries, they manage their holiday system in such a way to welcome and celebrate each season with a long holiday. They have summer holiday, winter, autumn, spring, new year holiday and so on and so fort. Usually, the effective working time for thsese countries are only between eight or nine months, while the rests are holidays.
By having such a holiday system, some advantages can be achieved by the society, not only they get some opportunities of visiting parents and family regularly, but also their tourism industry becomes so powerful and valuable for the country because they have much time to explore some exciting places in their own country or to travel around the globe enjoying many remarkable places in the world.
Are we encouraged enough to make some innovations to our holiday system that may treat people at more humanitarian view and create possibility for themselves to love their own country by traveling and exploring it?
Endan Suwandana, M.Sc.
PhD Candidate
Graduate School for International Development Cooperation (IDEC) Hiroshima University
1-5-1 Kagamiya, Higashi Hiroshima, 739-8529, JAPAN
Ph: +81-82-424-6905 Fax: +81-82-424-6904
Sabtu, 05 September 2009
FIRST WEEK IN HIROSHIMA
Tomorrow, I will have completed my first week in Hiroshima. During this week, I have been experiencing many new things and learning some new culture which we never find in our home country. Like living in other modern countries, the first things you will get impressed are related to their orderliness, dicipline, well-organized traffic, cleanliness, hard work attitude, respectfull to foreigners and so many things.
Hiroshima University is located at the eastern part of Hiroshima City, co-called Saijo region, which is about 25 kms from the central big and modern city, Hiroshima. Saijo is a developing area where you can still find many paddy fields in surrounding people settlement. I was surprised when I knew that Japan also produce their own rice, though it can be harvested only once a year in summer. The rice is a little bit different with the one we consume everyday in Indonesia, it is much more sticky. They need such character of rice due to their habit of using chopsticks (sumpit) for eating.
The first important thing you need to do is looking for an apartment. It’s not quite easy to find an apartment, that’s why I had to to stay at a campus dormitory (Yamanaka Kaikan) for the first 4 days, untill finally I got an apartment at the downtown of Saijo district near by Sun Square and Saijo train station. I am now staying at Mr. Yudi Adityawarman's apartment, a BPPT friend, and I share the rooms with him. He has a quite big apartment with three rooms, kitchen and bathroom. He used to stay with his family, but they have left Japan and been back to Indonesia a year ago.
Next thing that everyone needs to proceed is to get an alien card, which is like KTP or ID card for foreigner. Alien card can be obtained from the City Hall, the office that is responsible for resident, citizenship and even immigration. For inviting family, relatives or colleagues from Indonesia to come and stay in Japan, you need to submit the documents at this office too. To get an alien card is free of charge, however to get a temporary alien card it costs about ¥ 200 per sheet. This temporary card will be required for applying many things like student card, handphone number, etc.
I am lucky because, this apartment is equipped with internet connection which is 24 hour online. The connection speed is very very fast and unexpensive. You can download a 100 MB file within only 1 or 2 minutes. That’s why some Indonesian students use this connection for watching some Indonesian programs like MetroTV by streaming.
I came to Japan during the holy blessing month of Ramadhan. Though I can not feel like doing fasting in Indonesia, but fortunately, many moslem students from many countries are studying at Hirodai (Hiroshima Daigaku), the Japanese word for Hiroshima University. So this community is managing tarawih, together break-fasting, Jum’ah prayer and other religious activities. From Indonesia itself, there are about 80 students are stuyding at Hirodai, where some accompanied by their families. They are conducting master or doctoral programs. Some of them even become lectures at the University and few of them become associate professors. So I don’t feel no more loneliness.
That is for now. The next topic I will discuss about other living culture in Japan and I will put my focus on many kind of scholarship programs from which these Indonesian students get their financial supports. I hope this writting is beneficial for you and see you soon...
Hiroshima University is located at the eastern part of Hiroshima City, co-called Saijo region, which is about 25 kms from the central big and modern city, Hiroshima. Saijo is a developing area where you can still find many paddy fields in surrounding people settlement. I was surprised when I knew that Japan also produce their own rice, though it can be harvested only once a year in summer. The rice is a little bit different with the one we consume everyday in Indonesia, it is much more sticky. They need such character of rice due to their habit of using chopsticks (sumpit) for eating.
The first important thing you need to do is looking for an apartment. It’s not quite easy to find an apartment, that’s why I had to to stay at a campus dormitory (Yamanaka Kaikan) for the first 4 days, untill finally I got an apartment at the downtown of Saijo district near by Sun Square and Saijo train station. I am now staying at Mr. Yudi Adityawarman's apartment, a BPPT friend, and I share the rooms with him. He has a quite big apartment with three rooms, kitchen and bathroom. He used to stay with his family, but they have left Japan and been back to Indonesia a year ago.
Next thing that everyone needs to proceed is to get an alien card, which is like KTP or ID card for foreigner. Alien card can be obtained from the City Hall, the office that is responsible for resident, citizenship and even immigration. For inviting family, relatives or colleagues from Indonesia to come and stay in Japan, you need to submit the documents at this office too. To get an alien card is free of charge, however to get a temporary alien card it costs about ¥ 200 per sheet. This temporary card will be required for applying many things like student card, handphone number, etc.
I am lucky because, this apartment is equipped with internet connection which is 24 hour online. The connection speed is very very fast and unexpensive. You can download a 100 MB file within only 1 or 2 minutes. That’s why some Indonesian students use this connection for watching some Indonesian programs like MetroTV by streaming.
I came to Japan during the holy blessing month of Ramadhan. Though I can not feel like doing fasting in Indonesia, but fortunately, many moslem students from many countries are studying at Hirodai (Hiroshima Daigaku), the Japanese word for Hiroshima University. So this community is managing tarawih, together break-fasting, Jum’ah prayer and other religious activities. From Indonesia itself, there are about 80 students are stuyding at Hirodai, where some accompanied by their families. They are conducting master or doctoral programs. Some of them even become lectures at the University and few of them become associate professors. So I don’t feel no more loneliness.
That is for now. The next topic I will discuss about other living culture in Japan and I will put my focus on many kind of scholarship programs from which these Indonesian students get their financial supports. I hope this writting is beneficial for you and see you soon...
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