Hidayat Nur Wahid PKS Don't Be Silly! The Ministry Of Religion Only Has Holidays, Not The Commemoration Of The Prophet's Birthday

Social media activist, Eko Kuntadhi (Screenshot of CokroTV)

JAKARTA - The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Hidayat Nur Wahid (HNW) is considered to have deliberately stirred up the shift in the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, which was set by the government through the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) on Wednesday, October 20. HNW said the shift in holidays was troubling the community.

Social media activist Eko Kuntadhi said this statement from HNW was strange and at the same time ridiculous (arbitrarily). This is because the government has only shifted the birthday of the Prophet's Birthday, not the anniversary of the Prophet's Birthday on Tuesday, October 19.

After all, the government's reason is simple. Before the holiday falls on Tuesday, people have enjoyed long holidays on Saturday and Sunday. So that on Monday or known as the national tight day (harkitnas), the potential for people to take leave is even greater.

You can imagine if during those 4 days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) all people were off. The potential for tourist attractions, homecoming and so on will be full and facilitate the transmission of COVID-19. So, to prevent this, the Prophet's Birthday holiday on Tuesday was shifted to Wednesday, October 20.

"Unfortunately simple logic like this, but there are still many people who then take advantage of this issue, one of them is Hidayat Nur Wahid from PKS. The government changed the birth date of the prophet Muhammad, it's ridiculous, it's really funny, it's ridiculous,"

"The birth of the Prophet Muhammad is still the same. It has nothing to do with the date of the Prophet's Birthday because the only thing that has been shifted is his holiday," said Eko through the CokroTV Youtube channel, Wednesday, October 13.

For Eko, shifting the Maulid holiday is his business to be effective in public planning, anticipating community mobilization to avoid crowds. After all, Muslims still celebrate the Prophet's Birthday on the specified day.

For Eko, this is one of the fried ingredients for PKS to PA 212 which is trying to create a perception in the community that the government is degrading religious areas. People who are lazy to think will be provoked and fall into the PKS or PA 212 trap.

"This is their market which is continuously preserved so as not to rise in intelligence. This holiday, we celebrate Maulid, of course, this is an important thing for us so that we can offer our love to our great prophet," said Eko.

The protest about the shift in holidays was conveyed by HNW on its Twitter account on 10 October. The Deputy Chairperson of the MPR admitted that shifting holidays was an unwise thing.

"I have voiced it. And I support that the "policy" issued in June 2021 is revised by the government, because it is disturbing the community, the reason is not clear, also the current condition is much better. But it's not true that only Muslims are affected, it's also on Christmas and new year," wrote Hidayat Nurwahid on the @hnurwahid account.

"At that time, Covid-19 was at its peak. Now the national condition has changed for the better, towards normal. Naturally, the decision to shift / eliminate (holiday dates) is corrected," he said.