Vice President To Open Gathering of ASEAN Ulemas

id Vice President To Open Gathering of ASEAN Ulemas

Vice President To Open Gathering of ASEAN Ulemas

Vice President - Jusuf Kalla. (Antara)

Jakarta, (Antara Sumbar) - Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla is expected to open the "Halaqah" or gathering of ASEAN Ulemas here on Tuesday (Oct 17), which will be participated in by 12 countries.

Participants of the annual Halaqah this year are from ten ASEAN member countries in addition to China and Timor Leste, according to head of Research & Development and Training Agency of Religious Affairs Ministry, Abdurrahman Mas'ud, here on Friday.

The Halaqah which will be held from Oct.17 to 19 this year will carry the theme "To Strengthen the Competitiveness of ASEAN Islamic Educational Institutions".

In general, the Halaqah means a discussion forum in an assembly to jointly study about Islam.

Mas'ud further said that this year's Halaqah is more special because it will be preceded by research on Pesantren (Islamic Boarding Schools) and educational institutions which have independence in the economic field, both in Indonesia and other ASEAN member countries.

The ten ASEAN countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

"In fact, some Pesantrens in Indonesia are able to independently finance their economy and encourage their students to have entrepreneurial spirit. In other ASEAN countries, institutions of Islamic education run the economy themselves, especially in Muslim minority countries, such as Cambodia and the Philippines," he explained.

According to him, this year's Halaqah is a follow up of the previous year which carried the theme "Developing Moderate Islam through the ASEAN Pesantren Network.

During the 2017 Halaqah of ASEAN Ulemas, a number of speakers will include Prof Dr Yunahar Ilyas as Deputy General Chairman MUI (the Indonesian Ulemas Council), Nurhayati Subakat, Apt (CEO PT Paragon Technologi Innovation), Prof Dr Esmael Ebrahim (Director of the Philippines PCID).

The three speakers will speak of economic competitiveness and Islamic education institutions in ASEAN.

Other speakers will be Prof Ronald Lukens Bull (University of North Florida, USA), Prof Abdurrahman Mas'ud, Ph.D (Religious Affairs Ministry), Dato Prof Dr Siddiq Fadzil (President Kolej Dar Hikmah and manager of 'Institut Darul Ehsan Selangor Malaysia).

On the issues of Islamic educational institutions in ASEAN will be delivered by Prof Dr Azyumardi Azra (Professor of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta), Dr Khaerudin Al Juned (NUS Singapore) and Maman Imanul Haq (from Commission VIII of the House of Representatives). (*)

Editor: Vicha Faradika