Religious Affairs Minister Explains Hotel Venue for Isbat Session: Road Works Leave No Parking
Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar has revealed the reasons behind holding the Isbat session to determine 1 Ramadan 1447 Hijriah on Tuesday (17 January) at Hotel Borobudur.
The Isbat session is normally held at the Ministry of Religious Affairs offices, specifically in the HM Rasjidi Auditorium on Jalan MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta.
“Because of the road construction out front — Jalan Thamrin is being worked on by Public Works — we have no parking, and it’s quite cramped,” said Nasaruddin.
He added that the conditions were feared to potentially disrupt the solemnity of the session. Nasaruddin stressed that the choice of venue was not for any particular reason other than technical issues.
“There was concern about the disruption from having no parking space. So this year we relocated it here for the time being,” he said.
“That’s the first reason, so people shouldn’t read into it as though we moved from the office to a hotel — it was purely due to technical factors,” Nasaruddin added.
Secondly, the Ministry was still preparing an appropriate and suitable session room.
“At our office, we don’t have a proper Isbat room. That’s the second reason. Our preparations are now complete,” said Nasaruddin.
Nasaruddin expressed hope that future Isbat sessions could return to the Ministry of Religious Affairs once road repairs are finished.
The Ministry’s Bureau of Public Relations and Communications had previously stated that the session was originally to be held at the Haji Mohammad Rasjidi Auditorium at the Ministry’s Thamrin offices in Central Jakarta, but was subsequently moved to Hotel Borobudur.
They said the Isbat session was relocated to Hotel Borobudur Jakarta to accommodate room capacity requirements, referring to a letter from the Director of Islamic Religious Affairs at the Directorate General of Islamic Community Guidance.
“Referring to the letter from the Director of Islamic Religious Affairs at the Directorate General of Islamic Community Guidance, for the purpose of adjusting room capacity, the Isbat session for the beginning of Ramadan 1447 H/2026 CE has been relocated from the H.M. Rasjidi Auditorium, Ministry of Religious Affairs Building on Jl. MH Thamrin, to Hotel Borobudur, Central Jakarta,” the Bureau of Public Relations and Communications wrote.
The session commenced at 16:30 Western Indonesian Time with a seminar on the position of the hilal (crescent moon). The Isbat session proper then took place at 18:30 Western Indonesian Time.
The government subsequently announced the results of the Isbat session through a press conference, with the results scheduled to be announced at 19:05 Western Indonesian Time.