JAKARTA (UCAN): The Indonesian government addressed complaints from religious minorities about noisy mosque loudspeakers by issuing new guidelines, which regulate their use in nearly 750,000 mosques across the country.
Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, the minister of Religious Affairs, released the guidelines on February 21 aimed at local governments, the Indonesian Ulema Council, Indonesian Mosque Council, heads of Muslim organisations and administrators of mosques.
Qoumas said the use of loudspeakers in mosques is a necessity for Muslims as a medium for broadcasting Islam in the community but it is important to realise that Indonesian people are also diverse, including in terms of religion and belief.
“Efforts are needed to maintain brotherhood and social harmony. This guideline is published as an effort to increase peace, order and harmony among citizens,” he said.
The guidelines amend several provisions in the old rules published in 1978.
One of them is related to amplified readings of the Quran that can be broadcast at least 10 minutes before the call to prayer, reduced from 15 minutes in the old rule.
This new rule also limits the use of loudspeakers that point outside the mosque during daily prayers.
The exception only applies to religious holidays such as Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, where loudspeakers can point outside given that, generally, the people who attend worship are outside the mosque.
The guidelines also regulate the volume and quality of the sound produced by loudspeakers, namely “a maximum of 100 decibels with good sound quality or not discordant.”
Mosque administrators are asked to use good acoustic settings. When using loudspeakers with recording playback, attention should be paid to the quality of the recording.
