RI joins Malaysia's Islamic Festival

RI joins Malaysia's Islamic Festival

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will send a delegation to the World
Islamic Civilization Festival 1994 which opens in Malaysia this
Friday.

Various examples of Indonesian culture and art will be sent,
both historical and contemporary, reflecting Islamic influences.
They will be exhibited at the festival which will last until
October.

Indonesia's participation was announced at a joint press
briefing by Minister of Education Wardiman Djojonegoro and
Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher on Monday.

Tarmizi said Indonesia will promote its new technique of
teaching the Arabic alphabet to non-Arabic speakers, locally
known as the "Iqra" method. "We want to promote this method which
has been proven to be quicker for children to master Arabic
letters than any other method."

Bimbo, the renowned Indonesian folk-music group, has also been
invited to perform at the opening of the festival which will be
attended by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Muhammad.

"Malaysia especially asked Bimbo to come because they were
impressed by the group when it entertained ministers of religious
affairs from Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darrussalam in
Bandung, West Java, two years ago," Tarmizi said.

Harsja W. Bachtiar, head of the Indonesian delegation, said
the main aim of the festival is to show the world Islamic
culture.

"Western countries have seen Islam as a threat and thus their
enemy. So far, they have misunderstood us. So, we want to fix it
by promoting Islamic culture.

"From our perspective, we wish to show the world that
Indonesia, a country with the most Moslems in the world, has
something to offer," Harsja noted.

Of the 39 countries invited to join in the festival, 25 have
confirmed their participation, including Indonesia, Bangladesh,
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and
China. (11)