TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin announced that the government will conduct an isbat (confirmation) meeting on Monday (4/7) to determine first of Syawal, which is also the date of Eid Day this year.
"Our officers will be deployed to testify (to see the new moon)," he said in a press conference at Soekarno-Hatta Airport on Saturday (2/7).
Lukman added that a series of confirmation hearings will be held at the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Monday starting at 5 am.
In the first phase, there will be a presentation of expert about the current position of the new moon.
The meeting will resume after the evening prayer by presenting experts and representatives of friendly countries.
Lukman added that the isbat meeting would be done behind closed door, just like the meeting done to determine the start of Ramadan this year.
He said that the meeting would be done behind closed door because there are technical considerations that might cause misunderstanding among laymen.
According to Lukman, based on the fatwa of the Indonesian Ulema Council, Ministry of Religious Affairs is entitled to determine the beginning of Ramadan and Syawal with two methods: the reckoning and the rukyat.
He asserted that the method of reckoning is how to determine the beginning of Syawal with a tally, while rukyat is done by looking at the position of the new moon.
There are about 90 points on the observation of the new moon that have been determined by the government and some of the officials are appointed to look at the position of the new moon. He made sure the officials appointed will be sworn and are experts.
DANANG FIRMANTO
