City, surroundings quiet on 1st day of Ramadhan
City, surroundings quiet on 1st day of Ramadhan
JAKARTA (JP): The city and its surrounding areas were calm on
the first day of the Ramadhan fasting month on Sunday, with many
shops and entertainment centers remaining closed out of respect
for the Muslim holy month.
The city's main thoroughfares, such as Jl. Sudirman, Jl.
Thamrin and Jl. Gatot Subroto, which over recent days have been
crowded with demonstrating students, were also quiet.
Many restaurants and food stalls did not open, but others,
including MacDonald's fast-food restaurant and Dunkin' Donuts,
remained open albeit with curtains covering their windows.
Almost all entertainment centers and massage parlors in the
downtown Kota area in West Jakarta were also closed.
"Closed for Today," read an announcement board outside a
massage parlor on Jl. Mangga Besar, West Jakarta.
"Tomorrow we will open as usual," Rahmadi, a parking attendant
at the massage parlor, said.
He said the parlor was closed out of consideration for the
holy month, predicting that the number of visitors would remain
low over the following days.
A few military trucks and armored vehicles were seen at the
National Monument Park and presidential palace in Central
Jakarta.
Two armored vehicles were parked near Merdeka Palace, while
soldiers were playing chess near the vehicles.
Public buses carried fewer passengers. It appeared most people
chose to stay home on Sunday, fully observing the first fasting
day.
Some food and drink sellers said they would travel to their
hometowns in the first week of Ramadhan because of the fall in
trade.
One trader, Surip, said he and his friends from Madura, East
Java, would go home for a week.
Decreases
"We will go home since the number of customers usually
decreases," Surip was quoted by Antara as saying on Friday night.
Streets in Bogor and Tangerang were also reportedly quiet,
with some public minivans and buses remaining empty. Sunday is
usually a busy day for public transportation drivers as many
people make the most of having a day off work.
"I've only had 10 passengers since morning," a conductor
working on the Lebak Bulus-Bogor route said.
Some traditional markets opened until noon because business
had not been brisk in the early morning, presumably because
families woke up late and were reluctant to go to the markets
early after preparing and eating sahur dawn meals.
In traditional markets, many women shopped until 11 a.m.
Palmerah market in Central Jakarta is normally empty of shoppers
and traders by 10 a.m.
Some traders in traditional markets in Tangerang and Bogor
took Sunday off, causing slight price increases for certain
merchandise.
"I could not buy bananas since the trader from whom I usually
buy did not show up. I do not buy from other traders because they
would be more expensive," said Ros, a housewife, who visited
Pasar Anyar market in Bogor.
Another woman, Sumarni, also grumbled that the prices of
various vegetables, including red chili, had doubled since the
previous day.
But many housewives anticipated an increase in prices on the
first day of Ramadhan and bought more goods on previous days.
Martini, a housewife in Tangerang, said she had bought a
larger quantity of foodstuffs and fruits than normal in
anticipation of prices rising for the fasting month.
As an example of the price hikes, she said the price of eggs
had recently increased to Rp 8,700 per kilogram from Rp 7,000 per
kilogram. (jun/24/41)