Moslems cope with 17-hour fasting in Australia

By Dewi Anggraeni

MELBOURNE (JP): In this era of travel and global living, it is not unusual to find ourselves away from our usual support network and other familiar environments just when we need them.

Indonesian Moslems, being abroad during the month of Ramadhan, are one such example.

It would be fair to assume that it may be easier for them to be in a country where, like Indonesia, the majority of the population is Moslem, than, for instance, in Victoria, a southern state of Australia.

Here you are far from the comforting traditional cradle and moral support group during fasting, and to top it all, during summer, your fasting time stretches to almost 17 hours.

But while fasting here is not free from temptations, Indonesians say it is not excessively problematic or traumatic.

To begin with, the Indonesian Consulate General for Victoria and Tasmania in Melbourne makes it part of their business to maintain a network with the Indonesian community in Victoria, especially those in metropolitan Melbourne.

Two evenings a week during Ramadhan have been devoted for this purpose. Friday evenings for tarawih prayer meetings, and Saturday evenings for community breaking of the fast, followed by the prayers.

Most universities with a number of Indonesian students have Moslem prayer groups which meet regularly.

Students make a large part of Victoria's Indonesian population: out of 10,000, about 7,000 are students.

Since Ramadhan this year coincides with Australia's school summer vacation, many of the students have gone home to spend their vacation with their families. However, a fair number stay behind, and those who are Moslem, fast.

Buchari Daud, who has just completed his postgraduate studies in Linguistics at Melbourne University, is one of the leaders in the prayer and discussion groups. With his wife Lela and their four children, Buchari has been in Melbourne for four years.

Buchari said that his family fasts every day of Ramadhan, and he personally did not find the length of the summer day excessively distressing.

What about the fact that he had to maintain his fast while those around him were eating and drinking?

"In reality," he confided, "the fact that we are not among our family and friends helps to emphasize that we are fasting out of our own free will. In Indonesia, it is hard to tell sometimes whether we fast because everybody else around us does, or because we really want to."

Hard day

Buchari confessed that the first day was the hardest. After that every day became easier.

"Especially after 3 p.m., I don't feel hungry and thirsty any more. It just feels normal. And my capacity to work has not suffered either."

"A friend of ours," he related, "has a peptic ulcer, which means he normally has to eat every couple of hours. He fasts, and because of his faith, he doesn't feel any pain or any negative symptoms at all."

Buchari admitted that he missed the ambience of Ramadhan at home.

"Apart from the feeling of security, fasting among family and close friends, there are also particular dishes served in the evening when we break the fast. In Aceh, where I come from, there is a special dish for Ramadhan, a type of porridge. We can't get the ingredients here."

Rini Akmeliawati, a PhD program student on Control Systems Engineering at Melbourne University, confessed that fasting at home in Bandung was a lot easier.

"Apart from all your family and friends fasting with you, television programs are specially shown for those who fast, and prayers can be heard even on the radio."

Like Buchari, however, Rini cited the acute awareness of her own decision to fast. And being a minority in this society, those who fast tend to give mutual moral support. They even form a network by e-mail through the Young Indonesian Moslem Student Association (YIMSA).

"The fewer we are, the closer knit we get," said Rini. The evenings they do not go to the consulate general, they take turns in providing the home for breaking the fast.

Rini believed it would be harder for the young male students to fast in a non-Moslem country. "Women here don't wear clothes that cover most parts of their body. I guess for a young man fasting, this could be a source of temptation," Rini theorized.

Her friends and colleagues never show suspicion or contempt. They even make an effort to make life easier for her. They avoid eating or drinking in front of her.

"Actually it doesn't bother me if they do," said Rini.

Another student, Fahri Afid Abdullah, a second year Aerospace Engineering student at RMIT University, confessed he found the long summer days quite trying.

"After 6 p.m., I usually feel I've had it. But I persevere. And every day it gets easier," said the 21-year-old.

Fasting in Australia has been morally edifying for him. Apart from being away from home, he found he had to do all the chores that his family would usually do for him.

Along with this independence also came maturity in faith. He went to prayer and discussion meetings, which increasingly improved his understanding of Islam.

Fahri observed that even Australians who were not devout in their religion respected his choice to fast.

"To the average Australian, our fasting rules are fairly severe. Some were astounded at first, when I told them that we don't eat or drink from sunrise to sunset. But eventually, they respect what we do."

At each campus of RMIT University there is a prayer room. Lecturers and fellow students no longer wonder when Moslem students disappear to go to the prayer room in the middle of a lecture.

Like other young Moslems in the community, Fahri is determined to complete his fasting well.