The Role and Effort by Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in Consolidation and Determining the Beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan and EID Celebrations in Indonesia

Ministry of Religious Affairs, Republic of Indonesia is the designated agency of the Republic of Indonesia which administer religious affairs of the people in Indonesia. Every year, Muslims in Indonesia will celebrate the commencement of the holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. However, there are some Islamic social organizations in Indonesia which did not conform with the commencement of Ramadan and Eid celebrations as occured in 2010, 2011 and 2015. The question is, what is the role of Ministry of Religious Affairs to ensure conformity in celebrating month of worships in Indonesia? Based on authority given to it, what efforts have been done to achieve uniformity among Muslims in celebrating months of worship in Indonesia? This paper was written to unravel on issues related to this matter. There are two main objectives. First, to identify practice procedure by Ministry of Religious Affairs in coordinating the commencement of Ramadan and Eid celebrations. Second, to analyze the role and exert efforts in trying to gain uniformity in determining the beginning of Ramadan and Eid celebrations. In order to achieve both objectives, a library and field studies were carried out on the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Republic of Indonesia. Results showed that the Ministry of Religious Affairs play the role of a mediator in order to achieve consensus for Muslims in celebrating the start of Ramadan and Eid celebrations. Various attempts have been made to achieve this consensus. Among them are forming a special committee discussing ways to unite Muslims in celebrating the start of Ramadan and Eid celebration in Indonesia. This shows that the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Republic of Indonesia play an important role in achieving consensus in celeberating the start of Ramadan and Eid celebrations throughout the country