A ‘takjil’ bond

Crowds of ‘takjil hunters’ throng the Benhil Market in Jakarta to get iftar snacks from the Ramadan food and snack vendors. — Photos: The Jakarta Post/ANN

THE sermon of a Christian pastor in Indonesia recently, who told his congregation to "defeat Muslims" in the hunt for takjil (light snack or kuih for iftar or breaking fast) while they were weak from fasting, could have triggered outrage in the Islamic community of the republic.

In a recent video that went viral on TikTok recently, Pastor Marcel Saerang, upped the ante further by calling on members of his Tiberias Church congregation in Jakarta to “exact revenge” by buying all eggs during Easter so that Muslims could only consume egg-shaped candy during the Idul Fitri feast. But despite the high post-election tension, Muslims remain calm and in fact, some Muslim clerics have made jokes about the comment.