13 punished with push-ups by police for eating lunch during Ramadan in Bogor

Most Indonesian cities implement special regulations on businesses during the Holy Month of Ramadan. In Jakarta, for example, restaurants are allowed to remain open but nightlife venues like nightclubs are only allowed to operate during limited hours under certain restrictions. 

Things are… a little stricter in the satellite city of Bogor. Recently, the Bogor Police released a circular announcing cafes and warung nasi are only allowed to be open during Ramadan from 4pm to 9pm and from 2am to 4am for the pre-dawn suhur meal. Not only that, the circular prohibited those who are not fasting from eating in those restaurants.

And the police are apparently taking  the circular quite seriously. Yesterday, the police raided a group of food stalls in the Leuwiliang sub-district of Bogor at lunch time. There they found 13 people eating food from the stalls. 

The police brought the 13 to the district office where they were lectured and sentenced to do push-ups.

“They were secured because they were found to be eating lunch at the warungs. So we brought them to the district office and we provided them enlightenment, so they will be respectful of citizens who are fasting,” Leuwiliang Subdistrict Head Chairuka Judhianto told Detik on Thursday.

“As for the stall owners, we warned them. If they are found to be open again at noon, we will later seal the stall,” Judhianto added. 

The regent of Bogor, Nurhayanti, praised the raid, telling Detik in a text message: “I really appreciate the steps taken by the subdistrict of Leuwiliang as the government of Bogor has already released a circular concerning the provisions of the opening hours of the restaurant during the holy month of Ramadan.”

Police did not announce if all of those punished with push-ups were Muslim, but Nurhayanti said the circular requested that all residents of Bogor create a “positive climate” by not doing things that could ruin the atmosphere of the fasting month or lead to “security problems” (ie vigilante raids) that would disturb the peace. Nurhayanti also said that this was important to maintain inter-religious harmony.