Conference on Islam opens today

Conference on Islam opens today

JAKARTA (JP): Ministers in charge of Islamic affairs from Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore will gather in the capital today to review various programs on the development of Islam in the region.

The two-day meeting is to be opened by President Soeharto.

Senior officials from the four countries met here on Saturday to prepare the agenda of the sixth annual ministerial conference.

Representatives from the Philippines and Thailand, which have sizable Moslem communities, are attending as observers.

One major issue on the agenda is the establishment of a regional center for Islamic studies and propagation.

The ministers will look into cooperation possibilities between various Islamic institutions, schools and universities in the four countries.

Chatib Quzwain, the Secretary-general of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the head of the Indonesian delegation, told reporters on Saturday that each country is intent on strengthening religious teachings in the face of growing external pressures.

Brig. Gen. Dato Abdul Hamid of the Malaysian delegation said the ministerial conference would look into ways of tapping the Internet for religious purposes.

"Much information about Islam that currently appears on the Internet is not reliable," Hamid told reporters.

Incorrect information could be dangerous for Moslems, especially for the youths whose knowledge of Islam is limited, he said. "We have to counter the information and make it more balanced."

A number of Indonesian Moslem organizations have started up their own homepages on the Internet, most in Bahasa Indonesia. (01)