Night stall in Singapore

By Kazi Mahmood, IOL Correspondent

KUALA LUMPUR, November 26 (IslamOnline.net) – Shops and bazaars in the South East Asian region showed an economic slowdown on the first day of Eid al-Fitr with merchants describing the supposedly booming period in the year as "a drought".  

Merchants across South East Asian countries lamented this year's sluggish mood the poor turnout of customers on the ever of the festival, which closes the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

"This is the worst year for me and for my colleagues," said a lady vendor in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the sales dipped to a slow a week before the Eid, which started  Tuesday, November 25, in Indonesia as in the rest of South East Asia.

"Added to the economic slowdown was the rainy season that kept buyers at home and forced the business community that is involved in the bazaars to review their estimates downward," added another seller at the Jakarta Eid Bazaar.

Even during the month of Ramadan, the bazaars were sluggish in Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei despite affordable prices. 

"This year is like a drought, maybe it reflects the mood of the buyers busy with other matters than purchasing things for Eid," said Abdul Hameid, a vendor from Singapore.

He said that despite a vigorous turn of the national economy in the country, the Eid Bazaars tented to be sluggish compared to last year with record-breaking sales.

He said Singapore's economy has suffered from the U.S.-led global war on terrorism, which saw the government tightening its grip around the Muslim society, which in turn felt being watched too closely on every steps they made.

"It seems that people are saving for a bleak future, anything can happen to us here," Abdul Hameid added.

Even in the oil- and gold-rich small sultanate of Brunei, the bleak economic situation is showing its ugly face due to the sultanate's back-breaking debts.

But only Malaysia managed to maintain its economic juggernaut amid with shops and malls attracting people in droves.

The widely-known Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC) Suria market was over-crowded by Malaysians, who huddled together to celebrate the Eid with friends and relatives.

"We have almost 200,000 visitors today at this moment and it’s going to increase," said a security officer at the tallest building on Earth.