Majority rules: Let get into the spirit of tolerance

Majority rules: Let get into the spirit of tolerance

When it comes around every year, Ramadhan is a special time to
contemplate, when we can work on promoting good deeds and do away
with sinful ones.

For me, another thing to put away this fasting month has been
my alarm clock, which I planned to use to wake me up for the
predawn meal.

It proved unnecessary, as my neighbors will not let it -- or
me -- rest.

When I moved into my neighborhood a year ago, I had no idea
that the local custom was to wake up people for the predawn meal
with a din that would in all likelihood be able to raise the
dead.

Pounding on drums incessantly, they sound like a marching band
as they come down the street at about 2:15 a.m. I had wanted to
keep to my own schedule, waking up at 3:30 a.m. for my meal, with
a good 45 minutes before fasting began.

But living alone in a rented house with few acquaintances
among my neighbors, I am afraid to say anything about the noise.

I have no choice but to grumble and stumble out of bed.

Retreating from my sleepless nights to a relative's house in a
naval complex in North Jakarta did not prove much better.

Instead of drums, there were constant sahur reminders from the
mosque's loudspeaker (which fully lived up to its name).

They began at 2 a.m., repeated every five minutes or so,
reaching a peak with the call to prayer and the sermon. Each
announcement had the sound intensity of a heavy metal concert.

My relative told me that a Christian in the neighborhood once
complained, but to no avail.

"She cannot protest, we're the majority here," she said.

So being part of the majority means that we cannot tolerate,
even listen to, the views of others, but they must dance to the
beat of our drummer?

When I attended one of the country's Catholic universities, a
fellow student whinged about back-to-back classes with two prayer
times between them.

I quickly pointed out that all the lecturers permitted us to
leave class to pray, and that the school, in its own show of
respect to those of other religious beliefs, provided two prayer
rooms for its Muslim students.

I remembered this experience when I heard of the shocking
incident at Sang Timur Catholic School in South Jakarta, with a
group blocking the entrance because of religious services held
there. Students, naturally, were too frightened to brave the
blockade go back to school.

I can understand that the hard-liners have no time for the
views of others; their response to complaints about the early-
morning wake-up calls, for instance, would be to turn a deaf ear.

But please note that there is a religious verse saying that we
should respect our neighbors more than our relatives, because the
former are closer to us. Nobody specified any religion for those
neighbors.

Also heed the verse saying that religion is an entirely
personal matter, and that we are responsible for our actions,
whether we are saints or sinners.

So, my requests during this time, when we should be
heightening our tolerance of others, is to please turn down the
volume at my local mosque, so I can use my alarm clock once again
and wake up when I choose to eat my meal.

Please leave the neighborhood diners alone, where people
gather to relax and play some pool, instead of vandalizing them,
as happened early Saturday morning in Kemang, South Jakarta.

And, most of all, let those poor students go back to school,
so they can study and practice their faith in peace. -- Indira
Husin