RI likely to become Islamic study center
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta will become a new Islamic study center, historian Taufik Abdullah said Saturday.
"In the future, the international Moslem community will go to Jakarta, not just Middle Eastern countries, to study Islam," he said at a panel discussion.
Taufik, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said he predicted this because President Soeharto would open Baitul Qur'an (House of the Koran) and the Istiqlal Museum on April 20 at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta.
The discussion, where Taufik delivered a speech on culture, focused on the role of museums in Indonesia's Islamic culture. But Taufik could not say when Jakarta would be an Islamic study center.
"I cannot say it right now but with the opening of these two projects the world will have a new Islamic center," he said.
Baitul Qur'an is a museum which houses all kinds and sizes of the Moslem holy book from around the world.
The Istiqlal Museum is reserved to house various Islamic items which have been displayed at the Istiqlal Festival, held in 1991 and 1995 at the Istiqlal Grand Mosque.
Among the items are books on Islam, Islamic handicrafts and other cultural products.
The government has said Baitul Qur'an will be the biggest in the world along with the one in Damascus, Syria.
"Theoretically, a museum belongs to the public and everyone is entitled to gain knowledge from the artifacts kept there," Taufik said.
A museum also represents a democratization of science and a country's tastes, he added.
"The Baitul Qur'an and museum will play an important role and provide identity, knowledge, and historical balance," he said.
Taufik said the Istiqlal Museum would also depict the universality of Islam with the touch of Indonesia's unique cultures.
He said there were three important messages the museum would make. These are the local interpretation of Islam's universality, local cultures which have been nurtured by Islam and Indonesia's modern thinking toward Islamic universality.
"That's why I really expect the museum to play a more active role, like throwing events and programs for the public, so they can feel related to it and will not see it as just a building with artifacts inside," Taufik said.
He said the Museum would show a new Islamic look without the influence of Javanese culture or imperialistic thoughts.
Taufik said the chances of Indonesia being considered a major Islamic study center were quite good because culturally, Indonesians -- unlike Middle Eastern people -- are more open to western influences.
"Our Islamic thinking is still pragmatic, which makes it easier for us to disseminate Islamic teachings to a wider world," he said. (12)