Sheikh Yusuf named national hero

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

History binds South Africa and Indonesia closer together as Pretoria will declare the shrine dedicated to Indonesian national hero Sheikh Yusuf al-Taj al Khalwatial-Maqasari in the Maccasar area near Cape Town a national monument.

"The South African government is prepared to declare the shrine dedicated to Yusuf as one of our national monuments, because he is also our national hero," South African President Thabo Mbeki told The Jakarta Post in an interview recently.

The Indonesian government conferred the title of national hero on Yusuf, who hailed from Gowa in South Sulawesi, in 1995.

Mbeki said South Africa acknowledged Yusuf as a freedom fighter who, despite his death centuries ago, had continued to contribute to relations between Indonesia and South Africa.

Yusuf was sent into exile in Sri Lanka by the Dutch government for helping the sultan of Banten fight the colonial ruler, before being moved to South Africa in 1694. He died five years later.

Mbeki said his government was now working with Indonesia to translate some old manuscripts written by Indonesians found in South Africa. The manuscripts were written in the Indonesian language but using the Arabic alphabet.

"These things must be translated so that we can read them," Mbeki said.

Mbeki was in Indonesia last week for the Asian-African Summit, which his country cohosted. He paid a state visit prior to the summit, during which he signed with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a cooperation on agricultural development and the establishment of a joint trade committee.

Indonesian Ambassador to South Africa Abdul Nasier said Pretoria's acknowledgement of Indonesia's Sheikh Yusuf as its national hero would help boost people-to-people contact between the two nations.

"We are promoting close ties between people of the two countries, which in turn will help push other forms of the relationship, particularly in tourism and trade," Nasier said.

He said Vice President Jusuf Kalla was expected to inaugurate in September the Nurul Latief Mosque, which is being built by the Indonesian government near the shrine of Sheikh Yusuf.

Art objects will be shipped from South Sulawesi to decorate the mosque, including a phinisi traditional wooden boat, Nasier said.

During the inauguration ceremony, the vice president will hand over the key to the mosque to the South African government.

As part of efforts to improve people-to-people contact between the two countries, the governor of South Africa's Western Cape province, Ebrahim Rasool, will visit Makassar in May.