A call to prayer can never be too loud
Be careful not to complain of noise if you’re in Indonesia:
The Supreme Court has upheld a blasphemy verdict against a Buddhist woman convicted for complaining about the volume of adzan (call to prayer).
In a ruling dated March 27 and posted on the court’s website on Monday, the panel of justices rejected the appeal by Meiliana, a women of Chinese descent and resident of Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, and upheld her 1.5-year prison sentence.
A year and a half in prison for objecting to a loud “call to prayer.” Too bad for people who work the night shift or the swing shift in Indonesia; they just have to put up with being woken up a lot.
Meiliana’s case dates back to 2016 when she reportedly said an adzan was “too loud” and “hurt” her ears. She is the first person to be sentenced to prison for complaining about the volume of a mosque’s speakers.
Her alleged remarks were believed to have triggered the worst anti-Chinese riot in the country since 1998, with Muslims who claimed to have been offended by her words setting fire to several Buddhist temples.
It’s a good thing religion makes people nicer, because otherwise we might think it did the exact opposite.
Someone expressing a private opinion (which the fair-n-balanced piece puts in scare quotes) causes the worst riots in twenty-odd years (at least against people of her particular ethnic group) and it’s just one of those things people accept.
Funny world we live in, innit.
That:
It’s a good thing religion makes people nicer, because otherwise we might think it did the exact opposite.
Is brilliant.
I’ve read that, in places like Cairo, amplified muezzins are blasted at minority neighborhoods on purpose. Another grinding of the heel from the religion of peace.