Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – In spite of its potentially being a nuisance in local neighborhoods, no regulations should be drawn-up to force mosque caretakers to lower the volume of their speakers used to broadcast adzan (the Muslim call to prayer), lawmakers have said.
Chairwoman of the House of Representatives' Commission VIII overseeing religion and social affairs, Ida Fauziah, said the obligation to turn down the volume during the call to prayer should be left to the management at mosques and prayer houses.
"I don't think we need an official regulation, be it a local ordinance or law, to regulate the volume of speakers used in broadcasting the call for prayer. Let the mosques' managers decide for themselves how loud the volume should be. There shouldn't be one standard level because each mosque has a different environment," she said.
The National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker encouraged mosques to communicate the issue with people living in their vicinities.
Commission VIII deputy chairman, Surahman Hidayat, of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) added that reducing the volume of speakers during a call to prayer would lessen the meaning of the Muslim prayer ritual.
"The point of using speakers is to be loud so that people can hear the call to prayer. If they can already hear us, than we don't need the call to prayer. Adzan is part of the Muslim ritual, and that ritual is a given, so I don't think we need to limit the volume," he said.
Surahman also said that criticism of loud adzan was outrageous. "I disagree that a loud call to prayer is annoying because it's only five to 10 minutes for five times-a-day. The loud broadcasts in fact help to remind people of prayer times," he said.
Contacted separately, Jakarta administration spokesman Cucu Ahmad Kurnia said it would be impossible to introduce a strict regulation to limit the volume of adzan, adding that it was a very sensitive issue.
"There are some local ordinances regarding public order, including one passed in 2007. However, adzan is not regarded as a public disturbance given the sensitivity of the issue. Some people might be annoyed by it but most of us, who live in a predominantly Muslim country, still need it," he said.
The 2007 Bylaw on Public Order includes provisions on noise produced by business activities, firecrackers and motorized vehicles.
Late last week, Vice President Boediono criticized the high volume of speakers used to broadcast the call for adzan, saying that while all citizens could "understand that adzan was very sacred for all Muslims", he preferred "adzan with lower voices" rather than "loud ones".
Cucu said the Jakarta administration had never received any serious complaints demanding mosques lower the volume of their call to prayer. He said that most complaints that did arise could be settled within the neighborhoods themselves.
"We leave it to those people who are disturbed by the loudness of their local mosque's speakers to just consult the mosque's caretaker," he said. He added, however, that mosque managers could adjust the volume of their adzan to suit their local environment.
A 1996 Environment Ministry regulation stipulates that noise levels in each residential area should be no higher than 55 decibels.
According to research carried out in 1993 and published by the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, personal and situational variables affect the annoyance levels of a sound.
In this case, beliefs about noise prevention, the importance of the noise's source and annoyance at the cause of the noise have a significant impact on what most people consider to be noise or not. (aml)