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Southeast Asian Muslims to Celebrate Eid on Sunday
By Kazi Mahmood, IslamOnline Correspondent
JAKARTA, Dec. 14 (IslamOnline) - Muslims in Southeast Asia will celebrate Eid-el-Fitr on Sunday December 16, sources in Jakarta said Friday.
In Indonesia, the Muhammadyah movement, one of the largest Muslim organizations, with a membership of some 20 million people, declared on Thursday that Eid will fall on Sunday.
The organization urged its followers to celebrate the auspicious day that marks the end of the month of Ramadan on Sunday. It is not yet clear though whether the government will endorse the decision by the movement, but it seems certain that the Eid will be on Sunday, sources said.
In Singapore, the government and Muslim bodies have agreed that the Eid would be celebrated on Sunday as well, and that the ensuing Monday will be a public holiday.
Singapore authorities and Muslim ruling bodies such as the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS) have taken the responsibility of establishing the Eid days in order to prevent chaos in the country.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, the authorities have set Saturday December 15 as the date to view the moon. If the moon is seen on Saturday, the King will declare the Eid on Sunday. If not, it will then automatically be on Sunday.
And Muslims in Kuala Lumpur said they believe it will be on Sunday at any rate.
In the meantime, Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia are frantically heading for their hometowns and villages in a colorful spirit of "balik kampong" (Returning home).
Muslims living in states other than Kuala Lumpur and Selangor in Malaysia have booked trains, taxis, and coaches and are driving out of the capital city in private cars, causing a monstrous traffic jam on Friday.
Traffic came to a virtual standstill Thursday as motorists flooded the city to break their fast and leave for their hometowns in preparation for Hari Raya (Eid).
Traffic congestion was reported to be at its worst at about 5.30 p.m., when people thronged the city center to do last minute shopping, after a downpour.
In Indonesia, millions of people throughout the country, the world's largest Muslim nation, travel every year to their home villages to celebrate Eid-el-Fitr.
The Merak port in Banten province was bustling with passengers wanting to cross the Sunda Strait on Friday, two days before Eid-el-Fitr.
At least 70,000 Eid-el-Fitr holiday goers flocked the Merak port on the western tip of Java to catch ferries that will take them to Lampung's Bakauheni Port on the eastern tip of Sumatra, Antara reported.
On Thursday, about 52,000 people crossed Sunda Strait from Merak to Bakauheni.
The Merak-Bakauheni ferry service is one of the country's busiest ferry lanes during the Eid-el-Fitr holiday.
Millions of holidaymakers traditionally travel to their hometowns for family reunions at Eid-el-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month.
It is expected that the flow of travelers will peak on Friday and Saturday. Indonesians living in Malaysia are also seen crowding the ferry ports in Muar, Johor state and Malacca where they head for the province of Riau.
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