Ramadhan and social ills

Ramadhan has been observed by Moslems for centuries and it is always spiritually enriching to see how the month-long ritual is practiced. But the holy month, beginning today, is also a month of ordeals, even though welcomed with serenity and solemnity.

Throughout Ramadhan there is a deep sense of happiness among Moslems, even though they must refrain from eating, drinking and sex from dawn to sunset. At the same time they are expected to control their emotions and remain calm in any situation. In the evening they are urged to gather at mosques for a special prayer service and to praise Allah.

The hardship of fasting is expected to increase the social solidarity of Moslems, and importantly their ability to feel the suffering of the destitute.

The purpose of fasting is to promote the virtue of self- restraint within the sphere of religious morality; Ramadhan attempts to purify the soul and develops the individual's ability to conquer oneself.

Those who fast and ingrain these deeper meanings are expected to benefit the whole nation in its fight against moral decay. There is an appalling increase in violence, cruelty and anger among our people today. Moral values seem to have been turned on their head.

Unimaginable stories of violence, sadism and brutality have swept through Indonesia. There have been horror stories of pedophilia, in which street children had been sodomized and murdered. There have been tales of violence where victims were badly mutilated or beheaded. And the abuse of the designer-drug Ecstasy has become rampant.

On a wider spectrum, many people have become far more sensitive to the widening disparity between rich and poor; corrupt officials and the disgustingly rich continue to flaunt their wealth in front of the impoverished and the starving.

This has made the less privileged more sensitive, and violence is easily incited. Manifestations of violence borne of frustration will not end just because the authorities have appealed to the public with the catch-cry: "Let's make this riot the last one". It is unlikely we will see the end of violence until this myriad of social ills are cured.

What stands out, in Indonesia's heightened climate of violence, is greatly increased apathy. There has been little reaction by authorities to the latest round of brutal and sadistic murders.

This is a moral issue and the question is this: What has happened to our moral values? Have these values become unfamiliar territory? Ramadhan will hopefully remind the people of their moral obligations and responsibilities.

Religion cannot be understood only in terms of death and the thereafter; religion must been seen as crucial to the very survival of our nation.