Minister of Culture encourages Iftar tradition to become a cultural heritage, partnering with cultural organizations

Fadli Zon mendorong tradisi iftar atau buka puasa bersama didaftarkan sebagai warisan budaya. (IST)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Culture has joined forces with a number of cultural organizations through a get-together and buka puasa bersama event at the Ministry of Culture's Main House, Jakarta, Monday, March 16. At the forum, Minister of Culture Fadli Zon encouraged the tradition of iftar or buka puasa bersama to be registered as a cultural heritage.

A number of organizations were present at the event, including the National Secretariat for Indonesian Postal Services, the Indonesian Philatelist Association, the Islamic Cultural Art Association, Horizon, and the Indonesian Comedy Artists Association.

Fadli said Ramadan in Indonesia is not only a month of worship, but also a living cultural space in the community. According to him, the tradition of breaking the fast together, halal bihalal, to homecoming shows the strength of social ties that grow from the cultural habits of the Indonesian people.

"Ramadan is a month full of social activities, this is also part of cultural activities. The tradition of breaking the fast together, halal bihalal, to homecoming is a wealth of traditions that are very typical of Indonesia. Even the tradition of iftar or breaking the fast together is currently being encouraged to be registered as a cultural heritage, because the practice is alive in various regions in Indonesia," said Fadli.

In front of the cultural actors, Fadli also emphasized the richness of Indonesian civilization. He mentioned the discovery of prehistoric paintings more than 67,000 years old as a marker that Indonesia has a long and strong civilization footprint.

According to him, the diversity of languages, oral traditions, arts, and traditional knowledge is a great asset for Indonesia to appear stronger in the world cultural arena.

This agenda is also part of the Ministry of Culture's encouragement to implement Law Number 5 of 2017 concerning Cultural Development. The focus is on strengthening the art and culture ecosystem, ranging from performing arts, film, music, literature, to various other cultural expressions.

The event was also filled with poetry readings, musicalization of poems by Taufik Ismail, and Ramadan sermons. Present at the event were members of the West Java DPD RI Alfiansyah "Komeng", culturalists Taufik Ismail and Jose Rizal Manua, and Special Staff to the Minister of Culture for Cultural Diplomacy and International Relations Annisa Rengganis.