Wednesday, 16 July 2014

Key concerns before Ramadhan in Malaysia and Indonesia

Indonesia wants to know the date; Malaysia is interested in seasonal shopping. Zeffri Yusof, Communications Manager, Google Malaysia, shared on Google's Asia Pacific blog that  searches like 'kapan Ramadhan' (when is Ramadhan) and 'jadwal Ramadhan' (Ramadhan schedule) start getting popular from May, about two months before the month begins.

"Many people are searching for the official government start date, which may or may not be the same as what is determined by Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the two largest Muslim organisations in the country. Each has their own method, which means Muslims across Indonesia will begin fasting on different days," Zeffri Yusof explained.

In Malaysia, the trending query pre-Ramadhan is 'pinjaman bazar Ramadan' (loan bazaar Ramadan). According to Zeffri Yusof, this is because food bazaars are an important part of the Malaysian Ramadhan tradition. "Many small business owners take time off from their regular businesses and borrow money to set up stalls at Ramadhan bazaars which are visited by throngs of people after sundown," he said. 



Source: Google Ramadhan hub for Indonesia.

Google's Ramadhan hub has country-specific versions for various countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, and an Arabic version as well. On July 15, the Jakarta Globe described the features of the revamped Indonesian hub in detail.