Daylight saving time (DST)…. but not always

[jstar]

Of course it’s an everlasting discussion if DST is useful or not. For many it’s just annoying and offers no advantages. And the economical benefits are debatable. Anyway, with Europe switching over to ‘summer time’ last night practically all the ‘western countries’ in the northern hemisphere are on an adjusted time now.

In Lebanon, the clocks did not go forward an hour last night. Well, in fact they did but last minute the plans were changed. So now, summer time officially did not start last night but it will take effect in the night of April 20-21.

It is somewhat unclear why the government in the country came to this decision last Thursday. A bit late, right? Although it must have to do with the Ramadan fasting times. This has been done before by countries as Egypt and Morocco which did or did not change the time on purpose for the Ramadan period; thus the (break)fasting times would be more in sync with working hours.

It turns out not everyone participates in Lebanon, there is confusion and chaos. The television broadcast companies MTV Lebanon and LBCI Lebanon have stated that they will not cooperate with the postponement of the start of summer time. They set their clocks forward one hour last night. “Lebanon is not an island,” LBCI responded. The Catholic Church and all affiliated Christian institutions in the country, did the same. The influential Maronite Church called the government's decision a big surprise. “There has been no consultation and no consideration of international standards.” That is why the church has decided to switch to summer time anyway, just like many other Christian organizations. Middle East Airlines has announced that all departing flights from Beirut will be moved forward by one hour in the coming month. The airline says it will follow the government's line, but will still use the international time format to avoid confusion for flights and travelers. Wow, that’s not confusing?! The question is what other companies and schools will do. Obviously PC’s and cell phones etc. changed their times so they will need to be adjusted.

 

[snpark]

On a map Singapore is behind us but +1. Bali is in front but +1. Talk about confusing.

 

[jstar]

Yeah I don’t really understand the existence of WIB (Western Indonesia Time). Let’s say in the DKI it is light between 6 AM and 6 PM. That could easily be 7-7, so have Java, Sumatra and the west of Kalimantan switch to Central Indonesia Time (WITA). That makes more sense, also in doing business with Singapore and HK.

 

[R Cameron]

Yeah I don’t really understand the existence of WIB (Western Indonesia Time). Let’s say in the DKI it is light between 6 AM and 6 PM. That could easily be 7-7, so have Java, Sumatra and the west of Kalimantan switch to Central Indonesia Time (WITA). That makes more sense, also in doing business with Singapore and HK.

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Yes, it seems unnecessary splitting Kalimantan in two zones, and Java and Bali separate. Two zones would be adequate, drawing a line between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, continuing down with Lombok and NTB joining the West and NTT/Sumba joining the East.

 

[jstar]

Something that’s interesting, is that Indonesia (and its predecessor the Dutch East Indies) did also have multiple daylight saving time (DST) schemes in the past, depending on region and period and sometimes (semi-)permanent. It was rather messy:

There was a 20 minute DST active in Java and Sumatra from 1924 to 1932. Then the Dutch changed that for these western parts to 30 minutes, up to 1942* and again from 1945*. It ended in 1964, so that’s 19 years (or 15, depending who you ask) after independence.

To make it more complicated, West and Central Kalimantan (Borneo) observed a 1 hour DST from 1964 to 1988. The eastern part observed a 30 minute DST from 1944 until 1964 (after Netherlands New Guinea became part of Indonesia as Irian Jaya, later the Papua provinces).

*During the Japanese occupation (‘42-‘45) the Japan Standard Time (JST) was used.

 

[Bob]

On a map Singapore is behind us but +1. Bali is in front but +1. Talk about confusing.

That's from the formation of Malaysia. West Malaysia adopted East Malaysia time as a gesture. Yes it is confusing, going due south or north from Singapore or West Malaysia and changing time.

 

[Bob]

Yes, it seems unnecessary splitting Kalimantan in two zones, and Java and Bali separate. Two zones would be adequate, drawing a line between Kalimantan and Sulawesi, continuing down with Lombok and NTB joining the West and NTT/Sumba joining the East.

WIB is the natural time zone (GMT+7) for that area, which I suppose is why it exists. Indonesia could try a 'permanent DST' like Singapore and West Malaysia though; it works for those two. I've got a feeling that if they do that they'll do it to all three time zones. Or they could go full China and put everything on Palangkaraya time.

 

[jstar]

That is an issue à la currency redenomination of course. which also pops up every decade. I guess the last serious discussion on changing time zones was 10 years ago.

The only chance I give it to have it changed, is the move of the capital of Indonesia to Kalimantan. This city Nusantara is on the east coast of the island so would be in the WITA time zone. Which would be rather inconvenient, esp. for government officials. And then…