Walisongo festival hits Yogyakarta

YOGYAKARTA: Yogyakarta is hosting the second Walisongo International Festival, which was officially opened by Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Husin Al Munnawar at the Jogja Expo Center on Friday.

The event's organizing committee chairman, Achmad Zaini, said 17 member countries of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) were participating in the nine-day festival, which was designated as a forum of culture, business and religious activities among Muslim countries.

Representing the host country are delegates from 18 provinces and 35 regencies.

Apart from the exhibition of commercial products, various traditional and innovative art performances will highlight the festival. Among other performances is the newly created Walisongo shadow puppet show, which tells the history of nine clerics who spread Islam throughout Java.

The first festival was held in Surabaya in 1999. Zaini said the next event was scheduled to take place in 2004 in Jakarta to coincide with the inauguration of the Islamic Center, which is being built in the former red-light district of Kramat Tunggak. -- JP