[Nulgath]

Last Saturday’s violent mob attacks on a number of Buddhist temples in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra were supposedly sparked by an Indonesian woman of Chinese descent complaining about the volume of the loudspeakers at a mosque near her house.

The issue of loudspeaker volume at mosques in Indonesia is obviously a sensitive one. One of the few high level politicians who has consistently brought up the topic is Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who in the past has formed a team to help tackle the issue.

In the wake of the temple attacks in Tanjung Balai, Kalla, who is the head of the Dewan Masjid Indonesia (Indonesian Mosque Council), has called on mosques to be considerate about both the volume and length of their loudspeaker use in order to protect interfaith harmony and peace.

Speaking yesterday at a seminar on the role of mosques in fighting radicalism, Kalla noted that Indonesia is the country with the most mosques in the world (around 800,000) and that the volume of the loudspeakers sometimes led to conflict even between nearby mosques.

"Sometimes the calls to prayer are conflicting with each other because there are so many mosques. We are grateful for that, but of course we must also be careful," he said as quoted by Republika

The vice president also said that mosque caretakers often set the recording of sermons and Quran recitals to run for up to 30 minutes before the call to prayer, which was unnecessary as most people coming to the mosque did not have to travel far, adding that 5 minutes should be enough time to assemble worshippers.

In the past Kalla has also spoken out against the need to create loud noises to wake people up for sahur (the pre-dawn meal) during Ramadan.