Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Asian Muslims Start Ramadan, but World Cup Fever Undiminished

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Asian Muslims Start Ramadan, but World Cup Fever Undiminished

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Jun 29, 2014

Muslims attend an evening mass prayer session called ‘tarawih’ to mark the
holy fasting month of Ramadan in the Al Akbar Mosque in Surabaya, East Java
on June 28, 2014. (Reuters Photo/Sigit Pamungkas)

Jakarta. Muslims in much of Asia began celebrating the holy month of Ramadan on Sunday but in Indonesia even threats by hardliners to raid “sinful” bars could not stop football fans heading to nightspots to watch the World Cup.

Across the Muslim world, the faithful fast from dawn to dusk and strive to be more pious during the holy month, which ends with the Idul Fitri holiday.

Ramadan got under way in Asian countries including Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population at around 225 million people, war-torn Afghanistan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

Hardliners in Indonesia have pledged to raid bars that continue to sell alcohol, which Muslims are banned from drinking under Islamic law, or stay open too late. Authorities order bars and other nightspots to close earlier during the holy month.

Radical group the Islamic Defenders’ Front would “monitor any sinful activities in entertainment places, cafes and bars during Ramadan”, said Salim Alatas, the group’s chief in the capital Jakarta.

“If law enforcement officials do nothing about immoral activities, we will do anything we can to stop them, using our own methods.”

But the threats did little to deter people in the football-crazy nation, where most practice a moderate form of Islam, from heading out to catch the latest World Cup action.

Bars that remained open in the Jakarta were packed with locals and expatriates late Saturday and early Sunday.

“For me, the fasting does not really affect my enthusiasm to watch the World Cup,” said Intania Permata, a 22-year-old student, who was watching the Brazil versus Chile nail-biter at a South American bar and restaurant.

Endika Setiadi Putra, 27, said that with the World Cup now in the knockout stages, the excitement would keep drawing people to watch the matches in bars even during Islam’s holiest month.

“If it is the weekends, most people will go out [to watch the matches],” Putra told AFP.

Diet dilemma for footballers

The holy season also presents a dilemma for Muslim players in the World Cup, as choosing to fast will affect the strict diets they usually have to follow.

The problem is most pressing for the team from Muslim-majority Algeria, who face a tough match against Germany on Monday.

For many other Indonesians, the start of Ramadan was a time to be with their families or take part in special prayers, with thousands heading to Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, the biggest in Southeast Asia, on Saturday evening.

Politics was in focus in war-torn Afghanistan, with conversation at “iftar” meals after sunset expected to focus on the disputed vote count from the country’s presidential election.

Results are due out during the holy month, but Abdullah Abdullah has cried foul in the race against Ashraf Ghani, alleging massive fraud. The inauguration of the new president is scheduled for August 2, shortly after Ramadan finishes.

Sri Lanka’s Muslims, who account for about 10 percent of the country’s 20 million population of mainly Buddhists, are set to observe a low-key Ramadan after a spate of recent religious attacks.

The Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, which groups nearly 50 Muslim organizations, said authorities had promised tighter security but many were still afraid of Buddhist extremist attacks after four people were killed in religious riots this month.

In the predominantly Catholic Philippines, the country’s Muslim minority was observing its first Ramadan since the signing of a peace deal between the government and the largest Islamic rebel group after decades of conflict.

Von Al-Haq, military spokesman of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said the former rebels would seek to use the holy month to try to persuade breakaway groups still fighting the government to lay down their arms.

Ramadan begins when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. The holy month was also starting across the Middle East, as bloody conflicts rage in Iraq and Syria.

Agence France-Presse