No more decorated graves

No more decorated graves

JAKARTA (JP): Head of the city cemetery office Sjafril Zainuddin said yesterday that in an effort to fulfill plans to turn cemeteries into green areas, the office will not give permits to build boarders around graves.

"The office is responsible for turning three percent of the city into green areas, therefore, we should work hard to rearrange the city's cemeteries," he said.

Sjafril said that officials, as well as ulemas (Moslem leaders), should participate in publicizing the plan to families whose relatives are buried in public cemeteries, so they can rearrange the grave sites so that there will be no graves built with marble boarders, or other kinds of ornaments.

At the closing ceremony of an activity to clean up 75 public cemeteries in the city, Sjafril said that officials should also keep the cemetery grounds clean every day not just during holidays. (yns)