Indonesia Wants Moderate Islam Concept To Be Expanded Globally

By Azeman Ariffin JAKARTA, Jan 28 (Bernama) -- Indonesia wants the concept of moderate Islam or also known as Wasatiyyah, as espoused by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, to be expanded globally. Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the move should be made so that all parties could understand that Islam was a moderate and peaceful religion. He said the Wasatiyyah concept would correct the views of certain parties who frequently branded Islam as a radical religion. "We want it to become the world's reference regarding Islam," he told Bernama after receiving Special Advisor to the Malaysian Government on socio-cultural matters, Rais Yatim, at his office here Tuesday. He said the Wasatiyyah concept could not be highlighted by many Muslim countries including those in the Middle East but it was a practice for Muslims in the archipelago, especially in Indonesia and Malaysia. The Prime Minister had presented his views regarding the Wasatiyyah concept on the international stage in efforts to highlight the true teachings of Islam and objected to the actions of extremists who practised agression in the religion's name. On his meeting with Rais, Jusuf said they had discussed, among other things, the proposal for both the nations to collaborate on enhancing cultural and linguistic acitivities. "We also want to raise Malay language usage to the international level and become a language of knowledge as 300 million people use the language," he said, adding the total exceeded the number of French and German speakers and there was no reason why it could not be made a language of knowledge. Jusuf said for a start, there was an existing cooperative language and culture body between Malaysia and Indonesia which had been revived through a joint Memorandum of Understanding to expand liguistic and cultural activities. He said the body had previously focused its efforts towards unifying both the Indonesian and Malaysian languages, and that it should now be revived to increase its role to make both of the languages internationally recognised languages of knowledge. Meanwhile, Rais said Malaysia was proud with and welcomed the far-sighted views of the Indonesian vice president and described it as an effort to enhance the dignity of the Malay language. Rais, who is also president of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), said his department would work to create a network between the top universities of both the countries to foster cooperation in various fields, including language and culture. He said public relation activities between the two nations through Yayasan Ikatan Rakyat Malaysia Indonesia (YIRMI) would enhance efforts to bring together their respective local academicians. Rais said both the languages had long been the lingua franca in the archipelago and were viewed highly by past civilisations, and that the Indonesian language had been popular as far back as during the Ming dynasty. He said that Malaysia, Indonesia, southern Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines should create a platform to expand the language and culture of the archipelago to the international level. Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Zahrain Mohamed Hashim was also present during the meeting. -- BERNAMA