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BANGLADESHI LEADERS OF INFLUENCE VISIT TO JAKARTA AND WEST JAVA |
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11-15 October 2009
In cooperation with The Ford Foundation (Jakarta) and The Asia Foundation (Bangladesh), ICIP facilitated the visit of nine prominent Bangladeshi figures to Indonesia under the Leaders of Influence (LOI) program. The LOI program aims to enhance the role and capacity of faith-based and secular leaders, as persons of influence in Bangladeshi society, to contribute to national development efforts.
The regional study program was designed to facilitate a sharing of experience between faith-based and community leaders involved in administering the LOI program in Bangladesh, and counterparts in Indonesia. The visit provided an excellent opportunity for members of the exchange team to interact with representatives of partner organizations with which the Indonesia offices of the Foundations and ICIP work in implementing its various programs, as well as to share the Bangladeshi LOI experience.
A highlight of the visit was a day trip to Al Musri Pesantren in Cianjur, West Java. This pesantren is a member of ICIP’s Open, Distance & E-Learning (ODEL) program supported by the Ford Foundation. Along with the Bangladeshi team and ICIP staff, the visitors to Al Musri included Mr. David Hulse (Ford Foundation Representative in Indonesia), Mr. William Smith (Ford Foundation Finances Dept.), Ms. Heidi Arbunkle (Ford Foundation Program Officer), and Ms. Clare Harvey (Asia Foundation Program Officer). The Al Musri visit included a tour of the pesantren’s biogas facility and library, lunch, and a series of speeches. Among the speeches, David Hulse remarked that he is very interested in the way that Al Musri has been able to combine Islamic education with agribusiness initiatives.
The Bangladeshi consortium was led by Nazrul Islam (LOI Deputy Chief of Party), and included Mr. Mohammad Salah Uddin (a Khatib of the National Mosque); Imam Mr. Abdul Matin (women and children’s rights activist); Ms. Helen Monisha Sarker (Assistant National General Secretary, YWCA); Mr. Jalal Ahamed (Imam Training Academy); Mr. Minhaj Alam (Democracywatch); Imam Mr. Mahmud Hossain (Masters in Madrassah Education); Ms. Most. Masuda Aktar Mini (local government councillor); and Ms. Suria Gul Raihan Zinath Rahman (Executive Editor of the Daily Uttar Bangla).
Together with Dr. Syafi’i Anwar (ICIP Executive Director) and his staff, the Bangladeshi team visited several institutions in and around Jakarta: Universitas Islam Negeri (the State Islamic University); Rahima (Center for Education and Information on Islam and the Rights of Women); the Wahid Institute (dedicated to expanding the vision and intellectual principles of former Indonesian President H.E. Abdurrahman Wahid, or ‘Gus Dur’); Al Musri Pesantren; Republika (Indonesia’s leading Islamic community newspaper); the Centre for Dialogue and Cooperation among Civilisations (CDCC, chaired by M. Din Syamsuddin, President of Muhammadiyah); Istiqlal Mosque (lunch and discussion led by Prof. Dr. Tarmidzi Taher, National Chair of The Indonesian Mosques Council); The Ministry of Religious Affairs; and the Office of Nadhlatul Ulama (Indonesia’s largest Muslim organization).
Formal activities were concluded with a farewell dinner at the Kembang Goela Restaurant in Jakarta. Prominent among the concluding remarks offered on the LOI visit were the warmth and intellectual stimulation offered by the host institutions, and the desire to further expand cooperation between Indonesia and Bangladesh on matters of key concern such as inter-faith pluralism and multiculturalism, women’s empowerment, and social development.
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