Seminar to discuss Islam's arrival in RI

Seminar to discuss Islam's arrival in RI

JAKARTA (JP): The question of how Islam was introduced to
Indonesia will be the focus of an international seminar to be
held here on Wednesday.

Uka Tjandrasasmita, a historian who will speak at the seminar,
The Arrival and Spread of Islam in Southeast Asia, said
historians were split into three camps on the origins of the
religion in Indonesia, which now has the world's largest Muslim
population.

"Each of the versions has authentic historical evidence," Uka
said.

The most widely accepted view states that Islam was introduced
to the country by merchants from Gujarat, India, who traveled to
the archipelago in the 14th century.

The late Snouck Horgronye, a Dutch anthropologist who
traveled in Aceh before the Dutch conquered the region in 1904,
said Islam arrived in Indonesia from India. He also said there
was no proof the Arab world, where Islam originated, was aware of
the existence of Indonesia at the time the Gujarat merchants
arrived in the country.

However, recent research indicated Islam was introduced in
Indonesia by Chinese traders. The first Chinese visited the
archipelago in the 10th century.

Uka disputes these theories, which maintain Islam was not
introduced to Indonesia by Arabs.

"There is historical evidence that Islam entered the country
in the year 746 when a group of Tashis attacked the Holing empire
in Java. The Tashis were Arabs," he said.

Another historian and Islamic expert, Taufik Abdullah, backs
Uka's theory.

"The fact that ... Islamic teaching in Indonesia is identical
to that which developed in Arab nations proves the religion came
firsthand from the Arab nations," Taufik, who works at the
National Institute of Sciences, said.

The one-day seminar will present Islamic experts from India,
Thailand and Brunei. Minister of Religious Affairs Tolchah Hasan,
Minister of Tourism Hidayat Jaelani and Yogyakarta Governor
Hamengkubuwono X also will speak at the event.

Seminar organizer the International Islamic Development
Foundation also plans to produce a television series on the
arrival and spread of Islam in Southeast Asia. The series will be
shot in 17 locations across Asia and the Middle East with a
budget of US$20 million.

The series will be aired in Indonesian, English, French and
Arabic.

The series is scheduled to premier in December 2000 in all 55
member countries of the Islamic Conference Organization, which is
sponsoring the series. (04)