Jakarta Islamic Center Management Sends Hilal Monitoring Team To Thousand Islands

JAKARTA - The management of the Jakarta Islamic Center in Koja, North Jakarta, participated in determining the start of Ramadan 1443 Hijri in Indonesia by sending a new moon monitoring team to Karya Island, Seribu Islands Regency.

"We have sent a team to monitor the new moon on Karya Island, we will see the report from there. So for the determination of Ramadan, we will see the reckoning, we will see the rukyat," said Head of the Secretariat of the Great Mosque of Jakarta Islamic Center Ahmad (JIC) Juhandi as reported by Antara, Thursday, March 31st.

Ahmad said that Karya Island was chosen based on the results of an internal JIC study that it has a fairly wide visibility and is not affected by light pollution in DKI Jakarta which can interfere with the monitoring of the new moon.

"Indeed, it is an island, the view is good, the view is wide, the object can finally be monitored, we just need the help of binoculars, we can see there," said Ahmad.

Ahmad said that his party had tested the monitoring of the new moon from the 11th floor of the JIC Business Building, but because of the lighting pollution coming from the port, the vision using binoculars was still blurry.

"Finally, we searched, researched, around the Thousand Islands, it turned out that from Pramuka Island it shifted slightly to Karya Island," he said.

"That's what the view is wide, the eyes are also free, there is no lighting pollution, that's why we decided to look at Karya Island there," said Ahmad.

Ahmad said that for the last four to five years the monitoring of the new moon has been carried out from Karya Island because the results are better when the sky is clear and not covered by clouds.

He added, the method of rukyatul hilal in determining the beginning of Ramadan is very much influenced by the weather. "Sometimes it is cloudy, indeed the situation is all kinds (affecting the monitoring results)," said Achmad.