Diving into Homecoming Sensations

KUM

J Kristiadi

Idul Fitri is a day of victory, or perhaps is more accurately called the day of true victory. Having observed the great ritual of fasting for a month during Ramadan, the believers conquered the inner enemies of humans -- anger, aluamah (lust around the stomach: eating, drinking, sex), supiyah (arrogance, greed), and so forth. They are back to their innate nature, having been purified thanks to Allah’s abundant blessings bestowed upon them for their month-long exercise of worldly deprivation. The virtue of fasting burned off and threw sins into the trash bin.

The battlefield is body (wadag), mind and soul. It is not an easy ordeal to achieve victory because the fight is against lust for bodily pleasure. It calls for forceful struggle of mind and soul so that the spirit can shape up a shield against the inclination toward bodily indulgence.

The victory also shows that the believers managed to wrest sovereignty over themselves and the power of fasting was able to unite the spirit and wadag against the temptation of bodily indulgence as the body was fully controlled by good spirit, which cultural observer Emha Ainun Nadjib refers to as sukmo nguntal rogo (spirit overwhelms body).

Also read: Lebaran, Religious Reflection and Nationalism

Spiritual experience and glory -- thanks to Allah’s boundless mercy -- needs to be stored in the treasures of the soul because it will be very useful as a guidance, reference and tremendous power in the face of various kinds of hardship in life that may often turn turbulent.

The celebration of true victory is manifested, among other things, in the mudik tradition for Idul Fitri or Lebaran, which literally means homecoming. However, from a spiritual perspective, mudik is a metaphor that carries a message about humans’ origin, end of life and a homecoming journey to the Creator.

In world of puppetry, it is called sangkan paraning dumadi. Homecoming ritual must not be seen merely as a visit to the place of origin (kampung) because it carries spirituality, which shows the nuance of sacred.

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Residents take a meal at Jinem Ward in the Kanoman Palace, Cirebon City, West Java, in a halalbihalal event or open house after Idul Fitri 1442 Hijriah, Tuesday (18/5/2021). This activity is to strengthen the relationship between residents and the royal family.

It is not surprising that mudik travelers often desperately break the rules – somehow brutally at times and even risking their lives – in order to be able to delve into the mystical sensations and magical attachment to their ancestral origins and homeland.

Homesickness beats soul so hard and vividly that homecoming is felt as a must. The passion for homecoming is also triggered by yearning for teenage déjà vu and eagerness to show off in the neighborhood their thriving lives.

The government seems well aware about the spirituality and nostalgia dimensions of the homecoming tradition that arouse people’s enthusiasm about returning to their hometowns even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also read: Be Steadfast in Face of Pandemic

The government has the obligation and responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the community from potential threats, especially the pandemic.

Faced with the challenges regarding people’s enthusiasm about homecoming and the safety for all Indonesian citizens, the government formulated a policy with rationalism approach while trying to accommodate people’s noble intentions to visit their origins. A middle-way policy was a necessity based on the consideration that putting an interest in priority over the other would backfire. From the economic perspective, the chosen policy was expected to become part of the process of national economic recovery. The chosen policy is seen by some critics as lenient and half-hearted, and so forth.

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

The police select vehicles during a blocking operation at the DI Yogyakarta-Central Java border, Tempel District, Sleman, DI Yogyakarta, Tuesday (18/5/2021). The blocking activity along with antigen testing for vehicle users on the DIY-Central Java border will be extended until May 24, 2021 to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19 due to the movement of mudik travelers and residents.

Based on the experience of about two years of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, the government needs to formulate policies that ensure safety for the people and national interests in general.

First, education and community literacy must be pursued to help people cope with pandemic that is not yet known when it will end. With the government having two years\' experience in dealing with pandemic, the implemented policy -- no matter how prudent it is, even with the noble goals to save the people -- without being accompanied with education and literacy capable of winning the hearts of the people, will end up just being a jargon. Even more so when the policy deals with sensitive issues, especially tradition and religion.

The government needs to be more intensive in inviting community leaders from various circles, cultural observers, artists, and civil society to join hand in hand in providing literacy and education according to local culture.

Also read: Fasting and Social Observance

Second, a comprehensive national security strategy must be formulated at such with focus to safeguard national interests, in particular ensuring a sense of security for the people from natural and non-natural threats. So far the country has not shown its seriousness. The issue of national security for decades has only ceased to be a discourse and this has become a concern for civil society.

Article 3 Paragraph (2) of Law Number 3/2002 concerning State Defense imperatively stipulates that national defense is formulated by taking into account Indonesia\'s geographical conditions as an archipelago. However, the policy for the procurement of the main weaponry system equipment has not focused on strengthening the sea and air territory as the front line of defense.

Hopefully the experience of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic will encourage the country to immediately formulate regulations on national security, which are very important for the safety of the nation and state.

J KRISTIADI, CSIS Senior Researcher.

This article was translated by Musthofid.