KL to 'import' ulemas

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Malaysia has made a request for Indonesian ulemas who master the various religious books in Arabic, a local ulema was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

Hamdan Abbas, former chairman of the provincial office of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas, said that this year alone Malaysia has asked the council to send 10 North Sumatran ulemas.

"So, the graduates of the School of Ulemas here have good opportunities before them," he said, addressing the school's graduation day.

Abbas said that Malaysia specifically requested those ulemas widely knowledgeable about the traditional religious books known in Indonesia as kitab kuning (literally "yellow books" because they are printed on yellow paper). (swe)