Discord grows in Indonesia over noisy mosque loudspeakers but few complain fearing arrest, attack
- A Jakarta resident, who developed insomnia after enduring the noise for months, said she is too scared to complain as it can lead to accusations of blasphemy
- The Indonesian Mosque Council, which blamed poor acoustics for exacerbating the problem, is offering free service to repair sound systems
Every night at 3am, Rina is jolted awake by blaring speakers so loud she has developed an anxiety disorder: she can’t sleep, she’s too nauseous to eat – but she is also too scared to complain because doing so could see her jailed or attacked.
The noisy neighbour is the local mosque in her Jakarta suburb, and the clamorous sound is the call to prayer.
“None dares to complain about it here,” says Rina, a 31-year-old Muslim woman who is using a pseudonym in case of reprisals.
“The loudspeakers are not only used for call to prayer but they also use it to wake people up 30-40 minutes before the morning prayer time,” she said, adding that she is at breaking point after enduring the noise for six months.
Online complaints about noisy loudspeakers are increasing, but the lack of anonymity and fear of a backlash means there are no reliable official statistics. Aware of the growing discord, the Indonesian Mosque Council (IMC) is deploying teams to tackle mosque sound systems around the nation – but it’s a delicate subject.