Jakarta – Vice President Boediono has criticized the volume of loudspeakers that are used to broadcast the call for Muslim prayers – popularly known as adzan. He said that while all citizens would "understand that adzan are very sacred for all Muslims", he preferred "adzan with lower voices" instead of "loud ones".

"I feel, and perhaps other people feel the same thing, that adzan with lower volumes and heard from long distances will touch our hearts more than the hard, loud ones," he said.

He was delivering the opening speech at the 6th conference of the Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI) at the Pondok Gede Hajj dormitory in East Jakarta on Friday. He asked DMI members to start discussing a policy to set the volume of loudspeakers at all mosques in the country.

Furthermore, he also asked the DMI to go all out to prevent any mosque from being misused as a facility to propagate hatred and radicalism. He added that a place for worship should not be used as means to provoke conflict between people.

"Do not ever let the mosques fall into the hands of those who want to convey messages that may lead to violent acts and terrorism," he said. (asa/dic)