ndonesia’s Busiest Day for Butchers
Country slaughtered more than 600,000 animals on Monday for one of the holiest celebrations in the Islamic calendar
Workers in Jakarta took goats for sale on Sunday. ENLARGE
Workers in Jakarta took goats for sale on Sunday. Photo: darren whiteside/Reuters
By Anita Rachman
Sept. 12, 2016 7:35 a.m. ET
16 COMMENTS
JAKARTA, Indonesia—Indonesians slaughteredmore than 600,000 animals on Monday, nearly one-tenth of the livestock the country normally butchers in a whole year, as they marked Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest celebrations in the Islamic calendar.
In a modest success for the country’s bureaucrats, the increase in prices due to soaring demand for livestock wasn’t as great as in previous years.
Preparations for the festival, which marks the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God, began early. People converged at mosques or open fields to pray before slaughtering cows, sheep, goats and buffalo. In some areas, alleys ran red with blood before devotees distributed packages of meat to neighbors or to the poor.
The Ministry of Agriculture deployed 1,600 people across the greater Jakarta area, which has a population of some 30 million, to help oversee the rituals at over 9,000 sites.
Muslims Mark Eid al-Adha
Festival commemorates the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God
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A man checks the teeth of a cow to determine its age at a market in Karachi on Saturday. Shahzaib Akber/European Pressphoto Agency
People in Dhaka, Bangladesh, prepare on Friday to celebrate Eid-al-Adha. The Muslim festival marks the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. Khandaker ...
Muslims offer prayers on the Friday before Eid al-Adha in Kolkata. Muslims around the world celebrate by sacrificing animals. Bikas Das/Associated Press
A man buys a sheep at a livestock market on Sunday in Oujda, Morocco, ahead of the festival. Youssef Boudlal/Reuters
Indonesian Muslims attend Eid al-Adha prayers in Medan, North Sumatra, on Monday. Dedi Sunuhaji/European Pressphoto Agency
Pakistani passengers pack into a bus in Lahore on Sunday as people travel to their hometowns to celebrate. Rana Sajid Hussain/Pacific Press/Zuma Press
Afghan customers and vendors gather at a cattle market on the outskirts of Kabul on Saturday. Wakil Kohsar/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
An Orthodox Jewish man passes a Palestinian vendor selling items in Jerusalem in preparation for the holiday. Hazem Bader/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Iranian Muslims take a selfie at the shrine of Imam Abbas ahead of Eid al-Adha in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq. Haidar Hamdani/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
A girl applies henna for a customer at a stall in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Saturday. Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters
A goat is transported by taxi in Kolkata on Sunday. Bikas Das/Associated Press
A man uses scissors to make decorative patterns on a camel's back before displaying it for sale at a makeshift cattle market in Karachi, Pakistan, on Friday. Akhtar Soomro/Reuters
A Yemeni baker prepares cakes in the old city of San'a on Saturday. Yahya Arhab/European Pressphoto Agency
People crowd a ferry terminal in Dhaka on Friday as they travel to their hometowns to celebrate. A.M. Ahad/Associated Press
A man checks the teeth of a cow to determine its age at a market in Karachi on Saturday. Shahzaib Akber/European Pressphoto Agency
People in Dhaka, Bangladesh, prepare on Friday to celebrate Eid-al-Adha. The Muslim festival marks the prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God. Khandaker Azizur Rahman Sumon/NurPhoto/Zuma Press
The weeks leading up to Eid al-Adha are a difficult time for government officials in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. Some 650,000 animals were expected to be butchered around the festival this year; the scale of the slaughter can lead to logistical headaches and soaring prices.
The cost of the two most popular offerings, cattle and goats, rose up to 30% in the run-up to the holiday, with some cattle reaching prices as high as $1,300 a head. In previous years, though, prices have risen more; in 2014, they surged 35%.
Boethdy Angkasa, the agriculture ministry’s coordinator for the sacrifices, said the cost of transporting animals across the archipelago to the big cities has long been one of the biggest contributors to the uptick in prices.
In recent years the ministry has dispatched advisers to help farmers boost production, providing them with guidelines on how to better care for livestock and breed more robust animals that can better withstand the journey to Jakarta and other towns and cities.
Technology plays a role, too. Online markets have helped match buyers and sellers more efficiently, helping to keep a lid on price increases.
“Beef is still considered quite a luxury here,” Mr. Angkasa said. “The government wants to push down prices so it’s more accessible.”
Indonesia’s softening economy also may have contributed to this year’s relatively modest price rises. Lower prices for commodities such as palm oil, coal and natural gas mean that household spending isn’t growing as rapidly as it once was.
That is disappointing people such as Marjono. The livestock farmer said he traveled nearly 280 miles (450 kilometers) from his home in central Java to a market in southern Jakarta to sell about 100 goats and eight head of cattle. He left Monday with two goats and one cow unsold.
“It was OK this year, but I sold more last year—175 goats and 10 cows,” said Mr. Marjono, who goes by one name.
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Can we reform Islam, 57 islamic nations yesterday killed 10- 20 % of cattle population to please one Arab god who likes blood of innocent animals, one nation killing 20 % of all cattle in one day is not good idea . God who create life need life to b pleased makes no sense Can we ever create life in lab.. Looks like muslim follower lack knowledge and what God is what he does . No wonder muslims are kept uneducated to us them like slaves