VP to open Islamic meeting

PEKANBARU, Riau: Vice President Hamzah Haz is scheduled to officially open an international Islamic conference in the city on Tuesday.

Wan Abubakar, chairman of the Riau chapter of the United Development Party (PPP), said the meeting that would be attended by around 150 Muslim intellectuals from Britain, France, the United States and several Southeast Asian nations, would discuss Muslim issues in SE Asia.

"The meeting is expected to give inputs to resolving numerous problems facing Muslim communities in the region," he said.

The week-long conference will feature Prof. Howard M. Federsdiel from the United States, Prof. Mitsuo Nakamura from Japan, Prof. Karel A. Steen-Brink from the Netherlands and several Indonesian Muslim intellectuals. --Antara