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)