The Indonesian government announced that the holy fasting month of Ramadan (1435 Hijrah) will start on 29 June 2014. This decision was made after the Ministry for Religious Affairs held an isbat (confirmation) meeting on Friday evening joined by various Muslim organizations. However, Indonesia’s second-largest Muslim organization, the Muhammadiyah, previously determined 28 June as the starting point of the Ramadan. This difference is due to a different method of determining the location of the moon.

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Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who will end his second term as president in October 2014, is expected to appoint Lukman Saifuddin as the new Minister of Religious Affairs on Monday (09/06) or Tuesday (10/06) next week. The position of Religious Affairs minister has been vacant since Suryadharma Ali stepped down from his post in late May 2014 to focus on his defense after being named a suspect (by the country’s Corruption Eradication Commission, KPK) in the hajj pilgrimage fund-corruption case.

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Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali resigned from his ministerial post today (26/05) after having been named a suspect in a corruption case by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) last week. Ali is accused of mishandling the country’s hajj pilgrimage fund. This fund is centrally managed by the government and contains deposits paid by people who want to make the holy journey to Mecca (Saudi Arabia). Ali resigned in order to concentrate fully on his defense in the graft case.

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The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of Indonesia has named Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali (who is also Chairman of the Islamic political party PPP) a suspect in a graft case. Reportedly, Ali engaged in self-enrichment by deliberately mishandling state funds that were allocated for the hajj pilgrimage covering financial year 2012-2013. Funds allocated to the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca totaled over IDR 1 trillion (USD $87 million) in that year. KPK spokesman Johan Budi confirmed the case.

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