D

uring Ramadhan, Bosnians gather at home before dusk, waiting for the sound of traditional cannons and fireworks that mark the advent of dusk and the end of the day’s fast.

When iftar comes, they devour a wide range of dishes, similar to those of other Balkan or Central European cuisines; many involve red meat and pastries, but there is also yoghurt containing seasonal fruit and various kinds of vegetable soups.

Also on the table are fried cheese, different kinds of pita — pastries filled with meat and vegetables — and cevapcici, a grilled dish combining two kinds of meat, usually beef and lamb.

But in Jakarta, it is difficult to acquire such home comforts; the food is entirely different, and there are no relatives to break the fast with.

The Bosnian community in Indonesia is small, composed mostly of young working people married to Indonesians or temporary business visitors, according to Bosnian Ambassador to Indonesia Muhammad Cengik.

There are no more than 50 Bosnians currently residing in Indonesia, largely in Jakarta.

For those who live alone away from their family, like Cengik, the best they can do to channel their longing for their homeland is reproduce and mimic the dishes served with the closest ingredients they can find to the real thing.

“We tend to eat more expensive food [during Ramadhan],” he said, adding that the closest the capital’s Bosnians can get to their native cuisine is to eat at Turkish or Middle Eastern restaurants.

“But still, nothing can beat cevapcici,” the ambassador said.

The Bosnian community in Jakarta had their own breaking of the fast event, but even this was conducted in a very modest manner at a Middle Eastern restaurant in Kemang, South Jakarta, in the first week of the fasting month.

No special arrangements, such as entertainment, were made for the event, which was more like an informal gathering for people to see old friends and make new ones. Around a dozen people — mostly young — attended the event, Cengik said.

The fasting period in Bosnia and Herzegovina this year is among the longest, as it is summertime in the Balkans. This means facing higher temperatures as well as extended fasts.

Indonesia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former Yugoslav state, share a historical link: The respective founding fathers of Indonesia and Yugoslavia, Sukarno and Joseph Broz Tito, together formed the Non-Alignment Movement back in 1961.

Meanwhile, one of the largest mosques in Bosnian capital Sarajevo is named after Indonesia’s biggest mosque, Istiqlal Mosque, Cengik explained, since the mosque was a gift from the Indonesian people, a token of solidarity and friendship between the two nations.

The mosque is also colloquially known as the “Indonesian mosque” or “Soeharto mosque” in recognition of the Indonesian president, who dreamed up the project during a visit to Sarajevo in 1995, appointing an Indonesian architect to design the mosque, the exterior of which boasts Indonesian wooden carvings and ornaments.

While trade and cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina are relatively insignificant now, Cengik said a number of bids for hydro power plants had been submitted by Bosnian companies to the Indonesian government.

“We used to have a good reputation in the [infrastructure] sector here in Indonesia,” he said, referring to the period before the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian war in the mid-1990s.