Malaysia-Indonesia Agree To Hold Annual Meeting For Religious Ministers

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya JAKARTA (Indonesia), May 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Indonesia have agreed to hold an annual meeting for ministers in charge of Islamic religious affairs in a bid to strengthen the ties and cooperation in the field. The two countries also agreed to forge stronger cooperation between ulama, as well as exchanging views on contemporary issues and Islamic television programmes on Malaysia's television channel, TV AL-Hijrah. Those decisions were reached at a meeting between Minister in the Prime Minister's Department of Malaysia Jamil Khir Baharom and Indonesian Islamic Religious Minister Suryadharma Ali here on Monday evening. Jamil Khir and Suryadharma Ali also agreed that the ministry in charge of Islamic affairs in Malaysia to be invited to attend the inter-religious civilisation dialogue organised annually by Indonesia. Jamil Khir, who is here for a three-day working visit, said the proposed annual meeting for ministers in charge of religious affairs, proved Indonesia's commitment to spread the message of Islam. The minister said cooperation between ulama from Malaysia and Indonesia would open more rooms for discussion about Islam, beyond the issue of Islamic laws. Meanwhile, Suryadharma said Indonesia would also ensure that whatever decisions reached at the meeting would be put into action. "I welcome the idea of having an annual meeting for religious ministers from both countries. We also want ulama from both countries to exchange their views in line with the current development," he said. Suryadharma also expressed his admiration on the efficient way haj pilgrims were managed by Tabung Haji. "We think Malaysia managed to handle haj pilgrims in a very good way. The experience must be shared with Indonesia as we handle 226,000 haj pilgrims annually," he added. -- BERNAMA