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.
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