By Thalia Kattoura | Staff Writer
On March 26, Lebanon woke up in what seemed to be two time zones amid a decision taken by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and House Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone daylight savings time until the end of April. This last-minute decision took everyone by surprise, prompting numerous entities to express their disapproval.
The Maronite church had announced that it will not comply with this decision, stating that no prior consultations were made and clashes with the international world will arise.
Numerous organizations refused to operate under the winter timing and had also announced that they will not be following the decision.
Abbas Halabi, Lebanon’s Minister of Education and Higher Education, had declared that schools and universities should follow the international timing, going against the government’s commitment to stick to the winter timing.
Airlines and International World
The Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport decided to use two time zones to accommodate what was referred to as BMT (Berri-Mikati Timing) and international timing.
In fact, prior to the decision to remain in the winter time, Prime Minister Mikati stated to House Speaker Nabih Berri that: “We can’t do it, it will be a problem for aviation.”
Indeed, the decision taken by Berri-Mikati led to numerous complications for flights to and from Beirut. EGYPTAIR had gotten instructions from the Beirut airport regarding the government’s decision. As a result, the airline had to announce that “all EGYPTAIR flights taking off from Beirut 25 March to 21 April 2023 shall be leaving one hour earlier.”
However, Rafic-Hariri International Airport had announced that all flights departing from the airport will “be advanced by one hour as of midnight 25-26 March until the midnight of 20-21 April 2023.”
Sectarian Divides
The dual time zone situation in Lebanon had encouraged already existing sectarian disputes upon House Speaker Nabih Berri’s justification of remaining in the winter time zone, stating: “Let it stay 6 o’clock from now until the end of Ramadan”. In turn, many Christian institutions, like the Maronite church, expressed their discontentment.
Many politicians engaged themselves in what critics called “self-righteousness” and “continuing to cover up their tracks”. An example of that is the intervention by Free Patriotic Movement leader Gebran Bassil, who stepped in to comment on the situation by attesting that “there is no need for a sectarian reaction because the story is not sectarian—the story is arrogance and ignorance”.
The sectarian divide continued to show via the division between Christian and Muslim institutions. A pattern was witnessed in which Christian institutions had decided to follow international timing, whereas Muslim institutions remained at the BMT.
Therefore, this pushed for ongoing discussions between the Lebanese on the role that sectarianism played in interpreting the time. Many have made jokes about “Christian timing” vs. “Muslim timing”, or “West Beirut timing” vs. “East Beirut timing”, which brought back notions of the Lebanese civil war and how Lebanon was divided into West Beirut and East Beirut by the infamous Green Line.
Sanaa Chahine tweeted: “Why don’t the ignorant, reactionary fanatics understand that the two timings don’t matter to us because our fast is related to sunrise and sunset.”
The expression “Tell me the time, and I will tell you who you are” began circulating all over social media and making its way into day-to-day conversations.
Reverting the Decision
Mikati stated after a cabinet meeting called to address the issue that he “absolutely did not take this decision for sectarian reasons”.
“The problem is not summer time or winter time. … The problem is the presidential vacuum,” Mikati said, blaming the failure to reach an agreement on “religious and political leaders”, as well as parliamentarians.
The meeting concluded with the cabinet reversing the decision to remain at BMT. Mikati stated in a speech following the meeting that the decision was made to ease Ramadan fasting and did not mean to target any group or sect. He condemned the sectarian tensions that emerged as a result of the decision.
However, people had continued to point out that fasting is dependent on sunrise and sunset, and not any specific hour.
With the decision taken by the cabinet, institutions, airlines, and people had begun re-adjusting to their usual schedules.
Implications
Unfortunately, despite the decision being reversed, many are still left in despair following the tensions that the dual time zones escalated.
The dual time zone situation rekindled expressions and divisions that are ever so similar to that of the 1975 civil war. This occurrence of events seeks to highlight the sectarian agendas that
are embedded in such political decisions. In turn, numerous citizens have perpetuated it across their circles, creating an already existing domino effect in the nation.