ADPARA>Abstaining from eating, drinking and having sex between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan is not as big a challenge as controlling your temper at work or while driving in Jakarta.

With food, drink and (probably for some) sex, it is just a matter of rearranging your schedule from morning or afternoon into the evening hours. Even the most luscious temptations can be overcome, because you can say to yourself, "just wait for a few more hours".

Losing your temper, however, and the inevitable cursing, is something that happens spontaneously, usually on the spur of the moment. It's not something where you can say, "Oh I am not going to be angry just yet, but I will as soon as I hear the beating of the drum or the adzan (signaling it's time to break the fast)."

So, here's my problem, or should I say, challenge.

How do I control my temper when I have to go to work and deal with the every day occurrences that, Ramadan or not, cause me to get angry?

True, at work I have been able to control my temper better during Ramadan. I guess that's partly because when you're hungry and thirsty, not to mention sleepy, your temperament is also partly subdued by your physical condition. For those provocations that require revenge, I can always say to myself, just wait until after Ramadan.

But I have lost my temper during Ramadan so many times while driving to and from work, especially whenever I found myself getting stuck in a massive traffic jam and had to fight it out with other road users for every inch of space.

Fortunately, I usually drive alone in the car and have my windows shut (they are tinted anyway), so no one really knows that I have on so many occasions violated the Ramadan injunction that "thou shall not get angry" and "thou shall not swear at others".

God knows (obviously), but He also knows how hard I try. And I also know He is forgiving. We all have our weak spots.

If I were to list my top five Ramadan busters, that is, things that prompt me to curse (under my breath) and dangerously prejudice my fasting, they would be:

5. Government officials, public figures and politicians appearing on television making hypocritical statements.

4. Traffic cops who are now out in full force to get that extra money for Lebaran at the expense of motorists.

3. Microsoft for its Windows Vista operating system in my PC that still crashes at unexpected critical moments. I have spared Bill Gates because he is such a nice and charitable person.

2. Other motorists who cut in on my way. I single out the orange Metro-mini transit buses for the danger they cause me on the streets and the Mikrolet mini vans for stopping at the worst spots to create congestion unnecessarily, but I am more forgiving towards the green Kopaja minibuses, for obvious ethnical reasons.

1. All motorcyclists in Jakarta. They are the most inconsiderate of all. It's really beyond my comprehension why they put everyone's life in danger, theirs most of all and still feel they are always in the right.

I am not a short tempered person by nature, but these are the things that normally cause me so much anger, which I cannot suppress, and often lead me to let out some expletives, which probably cancels out my fasting altogether.

What are your top Ramadan busters?

--Eric Musa Piliang

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