Government Decides to Begin Fasting Month of Ramadhan on Sunday

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian government has decided that the beginning of the Ramadhan fasting month should fall on Sunday, June 29, 2014. The government took the decision at a meeting with Islamic mass organizations at the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Friday evening. "The government has decided that the beginning of the fasting month should fall on Monday, June 29, 2014," Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said to a packed group of media reporters at the Ministry's lobby after the meeting. Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Islamic organization, had earlier decided to begin the fasting month on Saturday, June 28, 2014. Referring to difference in the day for the beginning of Ramadhan between the government and Muhammadiyah, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakin Saifuddin said that the government had granted freedom to Muslims who have decided to begin fasting earlier than the government's schedule on Sunday. He said that the government had granted freedom for Muslims to differ on the beginning of the fasting month because it was a matter of faith. The government only provides directive as to when the Muslims could begin fasting. Earlier, the Religious Affairs Ministry's Board of Sighting of the Moon and Calculation said it had received no report on the sighting of the moon on Friday, which suggested that the beginning of the Ramadan in Indonesia should fall on Sunday. Lukman said that the ministry had mobilized religious officials in 63 locations across the country to help monitor the appearance of the moon. However, not even one official had sighted the moon at a position of one degree. (*)