Two pictures- Breaking the Fast and Desecration
16 September 2008
Two pictures with captions tell many stories
I Breaking the Fast
A lone man eats in a soup kitchen set up for Ramadan outside a public housing project in Paris. Source
II Desecration
A damaged portrait of Jesus Christ hangs on the wall of a demolished home after an anti- Christian mob attacked it in Barakhama village in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.
Dear RR,
In relation to your today’s topic I need to share my recent experiences in Jakarta with you.
We found a house in a ‘normal’ neighborhood (not a gated community; that’s only for RR)). Before describing the normality I need to mention that Jakarta nowadays has an equal density of loudspeakers as China in the Cultural Revolution. You will be surprised to see the density of moshullas (prayer houses). Sometimes 2 or 3 are very close together due to the fact that they belong to different practices of Sunni belief and because of the need of having a prayer house nearby. In our normal neighborhood we have 3 moshullas (within 1km) and one mosque, all very well equipped with loudspeakers.
As I came to Jakarta I thought that Islam is no big deal, 5 prayer calls a day and a bit chanting on Friday’s that’s it.
In non-Ramadan times (the real normal time), the first prayer call starts at 4:45AM and the moshulla nearby makes sure that the loud speakers are turned on to the extent possible. It is often not really melodic what comes out but they make sure that the call can’t be overheard. Sometimes I wake up at 4AM because somebody is using the microphone for a chanting session before the first prayer call.
During the normal week 2 hour sessions by loudspeaker follow on Tuesday and Saturday nights (some time between 6 and 9PM, starting at irregular times). Trust me, all extremely loud. Friday is no big deal. Only men are required to go to Friday prayers at the mosque and the sessions are not very long.
Coming now to the normal Ramadan times. At 1:30AM somebody from our kampung (neighborhood) is walking from house to house blowing a whistle to get people out of bed to transform night into day–probably one of the meanings of Ramadan. The ‘whistle blowers’ I sometimes overhear but at 2:30AM the drumming starts to make sure that people really get out of bed. It seems that people here need an early breakfast before the late breakfast shortly before dawn. Drumming can be performed by children also running from house to house or will be performed within the moshullas. By 4AM the loudspeakers are turned on again to transmit the chanting so loud that ear plugs don’t work as a deterrent. With the exception of the usual prayer call chanting and preaching stops at 6:30AM–my original time of getting out of bed.
During the day it’s the most wonderful neighborhood. Indonesian’s are really calm people, nothing’s noisy at all. Shortly before 6PM we have another prayer call and another one at 7PM, then by 7:30PM the recitation starts (over the loudspeakers) and usually lasts up to 8:30PM or 9PM. Then it’s Indonesia as its best again, calm.
I have to admit that I like ‘lokalkolorit’ or ‘couleur locale’ one of the reasons why I keep on moving from one country to the other.
With my humanism concept of individualism where each human should be respected as a human I am lost in my current environment. The fact is that I go to work, can not produce much because of sleep deprivation (see further below). The locals leave their work at 3PM what I can’t. Actually, the formal workers leave their work at 3PM, the informal ones are working all the time and are only paid if they deliver… (but that’s another story in this country where 70% of employment is informal).
Now my question: Even the ‘devout’ Muslim in Indonesia will only get a maximum of 4:30h sleep during the night which to me is an ‘abnormal sleep deprivation’. As we know such methods had been used by the American Army in Abu Ghraib which is now being described as a form of mental torture violating basic human rights. Is such Ramadan practice a violation of basic human rights then?
Another lesson learnt: Effects of Sleep Deprivation.
(i) Moderate sleep deprivation can impair cognitive functions including memory, learning, logical reasoning, arithmetic skills, verbal processing, and decision-making. (ii) Prolonged sleep deprivation causes attention deficits, short-term memory problems, speech impairment, and other ailments. According to a study by Physicians for Human Rights, a group based in Cambridge, Mass., this tactic can also cause high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and exacerbate existing ailments. Another study found that sleep deprivation can reduce an individual’s tolerance for pain and ability to resist suggestion.
Brommel’s account shows a truly preposterous mindset these loud-speaker toting people have. In Pakistan, we suffered from this nuisance until the Musharraf government banned mosques from the use of loud speakers for anything other than the call to prayer. Yes, the mosques try to out-do each other in being louder and space their calls to prayers in order to win over each other.
What a shame!
What does this account of loudspeakers and noise pollution in Jakarta have to do with the two pictures?