Egypt's top university coming to Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): The famed Al Azhar University in Cairo is planning to bring some of its educational programs to Indonesia soon, sparing Indonesians of the need of having to travel all the way to Egypt to study there.

Egyptian Ambassador Sayed K. El Masry told reporters yesterday that the university will establish branches in Jakarta under joint educational programs with Indonesian colleges.

The official proposal has already been approved by Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher and submitted to the government, Masry said during a press gathering to mark the 42nd Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution.

He explained that the proposed programs would enable Indonesian students, who wished to benefit from Al-Azhar's Islamic studies, to learn them without having to travel to Egypt.

Through these programs, he said, Al-Azhar would provide study materials and lecturers to its counterparts here, which are expected to include prominent universities, including the State Institutes for Islamic Studies (IAIN) colleges.

Masry explained that Al-Azhar abided by the "mainstream, orthodox and straight-from-the-source" Islamic values and did not lean to any specific Islamic denomination.

Moderate people

He said that Egyptians were by nature very religious but moderate people and they despise extremist groups which claim to be "more Moslem" than others, such as those which emerge once in a while from within the society and from other countries.

In this sense, he pointed out, the policy of his government to refuse religiously-based political parties in his country were similar to that of the Indonesian government.

Commenting on trade relations between Indonesia and Egypt, Masry said the embassy is currently arranging a large combined convention-exhibition of some 100 Egyptian companies and their Indonesian counterparts for later this year.

He said Egypt and Indonesia have been carrying out joint- venture projects and are currently exploring new fields of cooperation such as in electricity-distribution and ship- building, as well as engaging in a project to link the databases of the two countries together.

The embassy's location since the late 1950's, for instance, was a proof of this, he said.

Located on Jl. Diponegoro and built some 150 years ago, the house was recently declared by the city government as a historical monument.

"This historic house somewhat symbolizes the good relationship between our two countries," Masry pointed out.(pwn)