Thousands line up for free meat at Istiqlal Mosque
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Over 3,000 people, mostly from the lower income bracket, lined up at the Istiqlal Mosque, Central Jakarta, to get their share of sacrificial meat during the Idul Adha celebration on Friday.
Idul Adha is the Islamic holy day that commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham)'s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismael, to Allah. On this day, the well-to-do donate animals, mostly cattle and goats, to mosques which then slaughter them and give the meat to the destitute.
The Istiqlal Mosque received 21 cows and 26 goats from luminaries such as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, five Cabinet members, and even Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, a daughter of former president Soeharto.
At least 11 cows were slaughtered, with the meat then being divided up and packaged into 3,000 bags weighing approximately one kilogram, worth about Rp 15,000 each.
The goats and the remaining cows will be slaughtered today and the meat distributed to orphanages and charitable foundations. Last year, the mosque slaughtered 13 cows and 23 goats.
Unlike in previous years, the sacrificial meat was distributed inside the mosque.
"We want to make it more humane and avoid the crowd rushing forward, as happened in previous years," said Rozali Yunus, the chief guard at the mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia.
The first five minutes of distribution were relatively calm. However, as there were only two carts distributing the meat and twelve long rows of men, women, and children, the crowd became restless and started to gather around the carts.
The distribution was temporarily halted for Friday prayers. Some people chose to leave empty handed, while some continued to wait.
"It's OK if I don't get any. My daughter can't wait any longer," said Dedi Sunarya, who had been waiting with four-year- old Helen since 7 a.m.
Riky, who came along with his father, decided to sell his coupon for Rp 7,000. "I'll come back later, who knows they might have leftovers."
Other people decided to sell the meat directly to traders. "It's better this way, otherwise it will go unused," said Haryanto, who does not have a stove in his home, as quoted by Antara.
Vendors of sacrificial animals said that this year's sales were lower than last year. Dedy, who sold 20 cows last year, has only managed to sell seven this year. He also has 30 goats remaining out of 100 goats.
"There is more competition this year. Also, supermarkets such as Carrefour are selling animals," said Dedy, who is a vendor in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
Meanwhile residents in flooded areas such as Kampung Melayu, Manggarai, Jatinegara and Kalibata received sacrificial meat from local mosques.
Thousands of Kampung Melayu residents were not able to spend Idul Adha at home as their houses were still flooded.
"A lot of residents were not able to attend Idul Adha prayers as they did not have clean and dry clothes," said M. Lutfi Kamal, the head of Kampung Melayu subdistrict.
As of 9:30 a.m. yesterday, more than 1,400 Kampung Melayu residents remained stranded in emergency shelters, down from Wednesday's count of 9,000.
"It's not nice at all to have to spend Idul Adha in a tent," said Aminah, one of the residents who has not been able to return home.