Islam and the West discussed

Islam and the West discussed

JAKARTA: A number of experts on Islam and Indonesianists from various countries will gather in Jakarta to discuss the relations between Islam and the West one year after the Sept. 11 incident in New York in an international seminar which will take place between Sept. 11 and 13.

Themed "Islam and the West one year after 11 September 2001: Obstacles and solutions in search of a new world civilization", the seminar will be opened by Vice President Hamzah Haz at the vice presidential palace and be held at the Jakarta Inter- continental Hotel. Noted historian Taufik Abdullah will deliver the keynote speech on Islam and the West: Past relations and future hope.

The seminar is aimed at identifying problems and to find solutions to build a better understanding between the Western and Muslim worlds.

"In the long run, this seminar will be an overture to open the door for a peaceful future between Islam and the West," Sukron Kamil, the seminar's program manager, said.

Speakers at the international seminar include former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, Bassam Tibi of Germany's Gottingen University, Elizabeth Collins (Ohio University), Azyumardi Azra, Komaruddin Hidayat (Jakarta State Islamic University), Farish A. Noor, Johan H. Meuleman (Leiden University), Mark Woodward (Arizona State University), John O. Voll (Georgetown University), Mochtar Pabottingi (LIPI), and Osama el-Ghazali Harb (Egypt's al-Ahram Research Center). -- JP