RI to host 3-day OIC meeting to discuss Islam

RI to host 3-day OIC meeting to discuss Islam

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will open a meeting of religious experts from 22 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference on Tuesday.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher told reporters on Thursday that 52 foreign participants and 150 domestic observers will discuss, in the three-day meeting, strategies for the propagation of Islam for the next five years.

"We'll be talking about wide-ranging targets because there are currently 1.25 billion Moslems in various parts of the globe, with various social, economic and political conditions," Tarmizi said.

"The meeting will discuss ways to present a clear image of Islam, in accordance with the Holy Book Koran and Prophet Muhammad's teachings...so that Islam will no longer be a misunderstood religion," he said.

Correcting the image of Islam in the West, where it is often associated with extremism and terrorism, was also a topic that was widely discussed during the organization's summit last month in Casablanca, Morocco.

Tarmizi also welcomed a meeting of interior ministers from France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in Tunis yesterday to coordinate the fight against religious extremism as well as other security issues.

This issue will most probably be addressed at the meeting in Jakarta as well, he said.

"Islam teaches its adherents to be ummatan wasathan, people in the middle, not extremists," he said. "We can see for ourselves that extremism does not solve problems."

"Islam teaches us to deal with problems in democratic ways...not through extremism or bloodshed," he said.

Tarmizi said the meeting in Jakarta will help the world's Moslem communities in their campaign to reassure others that "we are a just, non-extremist, people".

"We all see that extremism can only boomerang," he said.

The meeting will also aim for an exchange of information among intellectuals, seek common perceptions on ways to improve the quality and methods of propagation, and to improve the roles of the organization, Tarmizi said.

The meeting, which will be attended by the organization's Secretary General Hamid Al Gabid, will also discuss ways to improve cooperation among the international dakwah (propagation) bodies.

Dr. Omar Abdullah Naseef, chair for the council of religious experts in the organization, will present his paper. From Indonesia, Dr. Amien Rais, chair of the Muhammadyah organization, will speak on problems of propagation in Indonesia and other Moslem societies.

Tarmizi said the meeting will discuss the "morality aspects" of some of the controversial subjects discussed in the international conference on population in Cairo, Egypt, last September. Indonesian Minister of Population, Haryono Suyono, will address the meeting on this subject.

Several Moslem organizations, including the Indonesian Council for Islamic Propagation (DDII) and Nahdlatul Ulama, will host the meeting.

DDII chair Dr. Anwar Harjono, who chairs the meeting's steering committee, said the organization's meeting will mark a more concerted, global effort for Islamic propagation as opposed to the more localized movements in the past.

"This meeting will be the first of its kind for us...we will use it to develop stronger cooperation among Moslem organizations," he said.

Included in the countries which will attend the meeting are Bosnia Herzegovina, Egypt, Sudan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Brunei Darussalam, Bangladesh and Morocco.

Representatives from "high economic countries" such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are also expected to contribute concepts on ways to redress gaps with many "low economic" Moslem countries, Tarmizi said. (swe)