In their attempts to preserve their Javanese identity, the question of keblat occupies an important position. The debate on the keblat that began in Surinam has been continued in the Netherlands, but the debate is not as heated as it was in Surinam. Thus as yet they are not confronted with the question of the direction of mosque's mihrab. Despite praying towards the West at home, when visiting a mosque, kejawen Muslims follow others and pray facing East. This small group argues that it is not the direction of west or east that is of prime importance, but rather the way one purifies his or her soul.
Religious devotion is regarded as having no value when one hurts and offends others.
The leader of the Sido Muljo, a kejawen organization in Rotterdam, holds that one can face in any direction, not just west or east, because God is omnipresent. In a recent radio broadcast, however, he stated that to be a devout Muslim one should apparently behave like an Arab and abandon his or her Javanese identity. We heard that in Indonesia our ancestors faced to the West, in the direction of the so-called Ka c ba. I also follow my parents. Because originally our ancestors faced to the West, we do so too.