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)