RI mosque to be built in Sarajevo<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) has
\nformed a committee to oversee construction of a grand mosque, to
\nbe named after President Soeharto, in the war-torn Bosnian
\ncapital of Sarajevo.<\/p>\n
Lukman Harun, the head of the council's foreign affairs
\nsection, said the committee comprises of people from both
\nIndonesia and Bosnia Herzegovina.<\/p>\n
Indonesia is represented by Lukman and Hasan Abdul Djalil, the
\nambassador to Hungary who also represents Indonesia in Bosnian
\naffairs. Bosnia is represented by Bosnian Ambassador to Indonesia
\nMustafa Ceric Mufti, Bekir Izetbegovic from Sarajevo's City
\nDevelopment Institute and Ahmed Kapidzic of Sarajevo's Spatial
\nPlans Institute.<\/p>\n
The agreement to form the committee was reached last month in
\na meeting between Hasan Djalil and Bosnian President Alija
\nIzetbegovic.<\/p>\n
A ten-hectare site for the project has been reserved in the
\nwest of Sarajevo, which has seen 1,000 of its mosques destroyed
\nduring the recent war. Lukman said it will be named the "Haji
\nMohamad Soeharto Grand Mosque."<\/p>\n
The name was proposed by the Bosnian leaders who remember
\nPresident Soeharto traveling to Sarajevo last year to offer his
\ngood offices in bringing about peace in the region.<\/p>\n
It has been reported that upon learning about the plan to
\nbuild the mosque, Soeharto said Bismillah (in the name of Allah).<\/p>\n
A team of experts, including noted architect Achmad Noe'man
\nfrom the Bandung Institute of Technology, will start work on the
\nproject before the end of the year.<\/p>\n
The mosque, to cost about US$2 million, will combine both
\ncountries' architectures. The committee has raised US$1 million
\nfrom the donations of various Moslem groups in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
"We are calling for more people to participate," Lukman said.
\nDonations can be sent to the MUI office at Jakarta's Istiqlal
\nGrand Mosque, he said. (ste)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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