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)