Nama: 1.

Saifun Naja (1791014033)

2. Azizah (1791014039)

The Meiliana Case: How a Noise Complaint Resulted in an 18-month Jail Sentence
Karina M. Tehusijarana and Apriadi Gunawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta/Medan | Thu, August 23, 2018 | 04:18 pm

The blasphemy conviction of Meiliana, a 44-year-old ethnic Chinese Buddhist

resident of Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, for complaining about the volume of the adzan
(call to prayer) has garnered worldwide attention and condemnation. But how exactly did
the case unfold from a simple noise complaint to an 18-month prison sentence?
The complaint
Meiliana’s complaint was made on the morning of July 22, 2016 to her neighbor
Kasini, who owned a stall near her house. Reports vary on what she actually said – her
lawyers claim she merely remarked that the adzan broadcast from the nearby mosque was
louder than it used to be, while the legal indictment says she asked Kasini, a Muslim, to tell
the mosque caretakers to lower the volume as it hurts her ears. All parties agree, however,
that Meiliana’s initial complaint was only to a single person. Over the next few days,
however, her statement became distorted and rumors spread that a Chinese woman wanted
to “ban the adzan”.
On the evening of July 29, 2016, a small group of people, including a mosque staf
member, went to Meiliana’s house to confirm the truth of her complaint. According to the
indictment, Meiliana said “Yes, lower the volume of the mosque. It’s too loud and hurts my
ears when I hear it.” The group took ofense at her statement, which they considered rude,
and return to the mosque. Meiliana’s husband Lian Tui went to the mosque and apologize
but by then a mob had started to form. In riot – Residents gather in front of Dewi Samudera,
a Chinese temple or pagoda in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, which was plundered and set
ablaze by angry mobs on Friday evening.
The Riot
After the groups confrontation with Meiliana, provocative messages spread like
wildfire on social media and messaging applications, with some even claiming the woman
had thrown rocks at the mosque and forcefully stopped the prayers. Later that night, an
angry mob started to gather in front of the local office and went to Meiliana’s house to
throw rocks at it. The violence then spread to nearby Buddist temples. Fourteen Buddhist
temples in Tanjung Balai were burned and ransacked by mobs between the night of July 29
and the morning of July 30, 2016. No fatalities were reported in the incident but damage ran
into the billions of rupiah. The police arrested 19 people for their role in the riot. Eight were
charged with looting, nine with malicious destruction of property and two with inciting
violence. All were given one to four month jail sentences.

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The Fatwa
Soon after the riot on Aug 9, 2016, Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Ma’ruf
Amin deplored the fact that local people chose to burn temples to express their anger
against Meiliana. He added that it was acceptable to lower the volume of loudspeakers if
people in the neighborhood were bothered. “Although she expressed her complaint angrily,
such an act should not be replied to with anger. Both parties should sit together to discuss
her concerns,” Ma’ruf said.
However, in January 2017, the North Sumatra chapter of Indonesian Ulema Council
issued a fatwa declaring that Meiliana’s complaint was “demeaning and insulting towards
Islam” because the adzan was part of Islamic law. Based on the fatwa, police charged
Meiliana with blasphemy that same month, but she reportedly disappeared until she was
finally arrested on May 30 this year.
The conviction
Meiliana’s blasphemy trial started in June 26 this year and later on Aug 13 the
prosecutors demanded that she be found guilty as stipulated in articles 156 and 156a of the
Criminal Code, and be sentenced to 1.5 years in prison. Meiliana’s lawyer, Ranto Sibarani,
denied the prosecution’s claims, saying that the blasphemy charges against his client were
based on hearsay and that no one had directly heard her say all the words she was accused
of saying. The mother of four nevertheless found guilty by the Medan District Court on
Tuesday and sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. Her legal team has said that they would
appeal the verdict.
The reaction
Meiliana’s conviction had drawn widespread criticism from domestic and
international rights group and two of Indonesia’s largest Islamic mass organizations.
Executive from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah also denounced the verdict, with
NU legal division head Robikin Emhas saying that Meiliana’s statement did not constitute
blasphemy. Muhammadiyah secretary Abdul Mu’ti agreed and said there should be an in-
depth study to review the blasphemy related articles and laws, arguing that the provisions
were vague and open to subjective interpretation.
Anti Discrimination Movement (Gandi) said on Thursday that Meiliana’s statement
was similar to what Vice President Jusuf Kalla said in 2015. Kalla, also the chairman of the
Indonesian Mosque Council (DMI), criticized the overuse of mosque loudspeakers during
Ramadhan that year. Therefore, the North Sumatra’a MUI should review their fatwa, said
Gandi’s secretary general, Ahmad Ari Masyhuri, who is also the chairman of NU’s Quran
reciters association. A petition asking President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to free Meiliana
started on change.org on Wednesday has since garnered over 30,000 signatures.

I. RESUME
1) Tuduhan pelecehan agama oleh Meiliana, warga Cina-Budha Tanjung Balai, Sumut
karena mengkomplain volume adzan telah menyita perhatian banyak orang.
2) Komplain Meiliana awalnya hanya ditujukan pada tetangganya, Kasini.

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 3) Tapi setelah beberapa hari kemudian, pernyataan Meiliana menyebar menjadi rumor
yang provokatif dan menyebabkan kericuhan yang berujung pada pembakaran
sebuah candi Cina, Dewi Samudra.
4) Setelah kericuhan, kepala MUI Ma’ruf Amin menyayangkan tindakan orang-orang
yang memutuskan untuk membakar candi-candi untuk melampiaskan amarah
mereka.
5) Ma’ruf Amin berkata, “Itu merupakan hal yang dapat diterima, untuk mengecilkan
volume adzan apabila orang-orang sekitar merasa terganggu.”
6) Meskipun Meiliana mengungkapkannya dengan marah, tidak seharusnya dibalas
dengan kemarahan, kedua belah pihak harus bermusyarah, demikian terang Ma’ruf
Amin.
7) Bagaimanapun juga, pada Januari 2017 MUI cabang Sumut menetapkam complain
Meiliana sebagai pelecehan agama.
8) Dan berdasarkan fatwa tersebut, Meiliana didakwa oleh polisi pada bulan itu juga,
tapi dia dilaporkan menghilang dan baru ditahan pada 30 Mei 2018.

II. TEXT ANALYSIS

A. WORD FORMATION
1. Compound Words
No Words Origin Par/Line Meaning
1. Worldwide World+wide 1/3 Seluruh dunia
2. Broadcast Broad+cast 2/3 Siaran
3. Nearby Near+by 2/3 Dekat
4. Caretakers Care+taker 2/5 Pengasuh
5. However How+ever 2/5 Bagaimanapun
6. Wildfire Wild+fire 4/2 Cepat sekali
7. chairman Chair+man 6/2 Ketua
8. Loudspeakers Loud+speaker 6/4 Pengeras suara
9. Hearsay Hear+say 8/5 Kabar angin
10 Widespread Wide+spread 9/1 Tersebar luas
.
11 Overuse Over+use 10/3 Penggunaan secara
. berlebihan
2. Acronym
No Words Origin Par/Lin Meaning
e
1. MUI Indonesian Ulema Council 6/3 Majelis Ulama Indonesia
2. NU Nahdlotul Ulama 9/2 Nahdlotul Ulama
3. Gandi Anti Discrimination Movement 10/1 Gerakan Anti Diskriminasi
4. DMI Indonesian Mosque Council 10/3 Dewan Masjid Indonesia

B. DERIVATION
No Words Origin Par/Line Meaning

3
1. Blasphemy Blaspheme+y 1/1 Pelecehan Agama
2. Conviction Convict+ion 1/1 Tuduhan
3. Chinese China+ese 1/1 Orang Cina
4. Buddhist Buddha+ist 1/1 Penganut Buddha
5. Resident Reside+ent 1/1 Penduduk
6. Prayer Pray+er 1/3 Ibadah
7. Attention Attent+ion 1/3 Perhatian
8. Condemnation Condemn+ation 1/3 Penghukuman
9. Exactly Exact+ly 1/3 Dengan pasti
10. Unfold Un+fold 1/4 Berkembang
11. Complaint Complain+t 1/4 Komplain
12. Actually Actual+ly 2/2 Sebenarnya
13. Lawyers Law+er 2/2 Pengacara
14. Merely Mere+ly 2/3 Sekedar
15. Remark Re+mark 2/3 Berkata
16. Louder Loud+er 2/3 Lebih keras
17. Indictment Indict+ment 2/4 Dakwaan
18. Lower Low+er 2/5 Lebih kecil
19. Statement State+ment 2/6 Pernyataan
20. Distorted Dis+torted 2/7 Dibelokkan
21. Truth True+th 3/2 Kebenaran
22. Return Re+turn 3/5 Kembali
23. Ablaze A+blaze 3/8 Membakar
24. Confrontation Confront+ation 4/1 Konfrontasi
25. Provocative Provoke+ative 4/1 Profokatif
26. Application Apply+cation 4/2 Aplikasi
27. Forcefully Force+ful+ly 4/3 Dengan paksaan
28. Later Late+er 4/3 Setelahnya
29. Fatalities Fatal+ity 4/7 Kematian
30. Incident Incide+ent 4/7 Insiden
31. Malicious Malice+ous 4/9 Kebencian
32. Destruction Destruct+ion 4/9 Perusakan
33. Property Proper+ty 4/9 Tanah milik
34. Acceptable Accept+able 6/3 Dapat diterima
35. Neighborhood Neighbor+hood 6/4 Lingkungan
36. Angrily Angry+ly 6/4 Dengan marah
37. Demeaning De+mean 7/2 Merendahkan
38. Reportedly Reported+ly 7/4 Dilaporkan
39. Disappeared Dis+appeared 7/4 Menghilang
40. Finally Final+ly 7/4 Akhirnya
41. Trial Try+al 8/1 Pemeriksaan pengadilan
42. Prosecutors Prosecute+or 8/2 Jaksa
43. Guilty Guilt+y 8/2 Bersalah
44. Criminal Crime+al 8/3 Kriminal
45. Prosecution Prosecute+ion 8/4 Penuntutan
46. Directly Direct+ly 8/5 Secara langsung
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47. Imprisonment Im+prison+ment 8/7 Hukuman penjara
48. Reaction React+ion 9 Reaksi
49. Criticism Critic+ism 9/1 Kecaman
50. International Inter+natioan+al 9/2 Internasional
51. Largest Large+est 9/2 Terbesar
52. Islamic Islam+ic 9/2 Berhubungan dengan Islam
53. Organization Organ+ize+ation 9/2 Organisasi
54. Executive Execute+ive 9/2 Pelaksana
55. Depth Deep+th 9/5 Dalam (ukuran)
56. Review Re+view 9/6 Tinjauan ulang
57. Subjective Subject+ive 9/7 Subjektif
58. Interpretation Interprete+ation 9/7 Penafsiran
59. Discrimination Discriminate+ation 10/1 Diskriminasi
60. Movement Move+ment 10/1 Gerakan
61. President Preside+ent 10/2 Presiden
62. Criticized Critic+ize 10/3 Mengkritik
63. Reciters Recite+er 10/6 Pembaca
64. Association Associate+ion 10/6 Asosiasi