Riau’s Kampar District Mulls Bylaw to Ban TV During Praying Hour

Jakarta Globe

Worried
about the rising crime rate, the local government of Kampar district, Riau, is
mulling passing a bylaw that would oblige residents to turn off their
television sets for an hour each day and instead pray.

Kampar
district head Jefry Noer told Metrotv.com on Thursday that such a bylaw would
help address increasing public worry over the rising crime rate in the
district, which he said was a social disease.

The
planned bylaw, he said, would instruct Kampar residents to turn off their
television sets from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., during the Maghrib praying hour, and use the time to recite the Koran.

Local
officials have begun socializing the idea among residents.

“When I
visited the Bangkinang Seberang region, I told the people about the planned bylaw,”
said Eva Yuliana, a member of the Kampar Legislative Council (DPRD Kampar), as
quoted by katakabar.com. 

“People welcome the plan. The elder ones have long been worried about the
current conditions. During the Maghrib praying hour, Koran recitals are hardly
heard from mosques.”

She did
not mention when they planned to pass the bylaw, saying they were still focused
on socializing the plan.

“During
Maghrib, children are just watching TV and hanging around,” she said. “It’s so
different from the old days, when they read the Koran during Maghrib. We want
to go back to the way it was.”