Row over speakers on Indonesian ‘island of 1,000 mosques’ sparks debate on compromise

South China Morning Post · Feb 25, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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A confrontation between a foreign tourist and residents on a popular Indonesian holiday island has reignited debate over the regulation of mosque loudspeakers in the Muslim-majority country.The dispute, involving a New Zealand national on Gili Trawangan, has drawn fresh attention to whether related government guidelines on the use of such speakers should instead become a binding law.On February 18, the woman disrupted a Koran recitation night session at a musalla – a small prayer room – near her villa on Gili Trawangan, about a two-hour ferry ride from Bali.Often described as a party island, Gili Trawangan is part of Muslim-majority Lombok, also known as “the island of a thousand mosques”.Residents said she had complained about the use of loudspeakers during the recitation. A commotion erupted after she unplugged a microphone, angering locals.Muhammad Husni, the local village head, told news outlet Detik that the woman had also “scratched a resident and caused a religious figure in the musalla to fall” during the confrontation, which later went viral on social media.