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Issue of the day: Ahok sends 30 mosque keepers on 'umrah'
Dec
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strong>Dec. 17, p2
Madari, 65, will never forget the day when the Jakarta Mosque Council summoned him and said he was among the first 30 mosque keepers selected to perform umrah (minor pilgrimage), courtesy of the city administration. 'I was excited. I was speechless. I started preparing right away,' he told The Jakarta Post at City Hall on Tuesday.
The father of four said he thought he would never go on a pilgrimage. Madari has been a mosque keeper at At-Taufiq Mosque in Pondok Pinang in South Jakarta for more than 15 years and earns Rp 300,000 (US$23) a month. He also worked as a security guard in a South Jakarta school, receiving Rp 700,000 monthly. 'With the money I make, I can't afford to pay for a pilgrimage. I can't save a penny,' he said.
Asni, another mosque keeper, shared the same enthusiasm. The 64-year-old, who has been mosque keeper of An-Nur Mosque in Menteng in Central Jakarta for 10 years, said he hoped thousands of other mosque keepers in Jakarta would get the same opportunity. 'I'm very happy to have received this honor,' he said.
Your comments:
It's a nice gesture. It's relatively inexpensive; a drop in the giant bucket of Jakarta's budget. It's a feel-good story that feels genuine. It's Christmas after all.
For those who hate him, it won't change their mind.
And Ahok knows this too. Is it a PR move?
He is a politician after all. But seriously, give it a rest.
Agus Satya
Good job Mr. Ahok. Hopefully, it's really from your heart.
Rumatul Wardah
I can't say I disagree with what he did. However, you need to be more precise to the target, sir.
Try hard to get the mosque keepers who really need and can't afford to go on a pilgrimage.
Since you did this, then I'm sure there will be people who will do 'anything' to get the chance. Don't let your guard down, sir. Please be more careful about that.
Amyeong
There is no better choice than doing this sort of thing when the leader is a member of the minority.
If Ahok were a Muslim, he wouldn't have to do this and publicize it. This is just a symbolic gesture.
He's a politician after all. It's inevitable some vote-buying occurs.
Exwin
The governor is spending taxpayers' money in favor of a particular religion, whose fringe organization had been so vocal against his appointment?
It is a poor decision from an inexperienced governor. He needs a new advisor.
Abu
This is actually pathetic! It needs to come out of his own pocket, not from public funds.
Shame on him! So when is Ahok going to send poor church keepers to Jerusalem for pilgrimage, or poor vihara keepers to wherever they go for pilgrimage, etc.?
Jaytee
And whilst you are on the pilgrimage, notice and learn that the mosques there do not broadcast distorted recordings at silly hours of the day, and use them only for call to prayer.
LAF
The mosque keepers are poor people and they deserve it!
Think of all the taxpayers' money, our money, which was before spent on nonsense, like meeting rooms
in hotels, business-class flights abroad, etc. Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama should also send Christians to Rome, to visit the pope, and to Israel.
Herozip
