world+big+news.jpg)
Muslim officials from Malaysia's Terengganu state have offered scholarships for 10 students from the deep South to study Islamic astronomy as a gesture of peace making in the region.
A nine-member delegation from the northern states of Terengganu and Kelantan made the offer during their visit to the deep South this week to gather first hand accounts from local people.
The three months' course aims to educate young Muslims in the deep South about the Islamic calendar to make sure people know important dates, notably during the fasting month of Ramadan, said Tuan Haji Khazan Bin Che Mat, chairman of Terengganu state government's committee for religion and information.
Khazan led the delegation to southern Thailand on July 26 - August 1 and met Islamic and community leaders, and government officials, including Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
"We are happy to see the situation is not as we had heard, or as we had read in newspapers in our country," he said.
"Of course there are tragedies but they do not occur every day and in every place. So it is safe to visit southern Thailand," Khazan said.
However, the delegation failed to hear of several violent incidents during their visit, including a bomb at Dusongyor school in Narathiwat on Tuesday that injured six soldiers.
Khazan said he does not know the root cause of the violence in the deep South, but it had left Muslims with problems "with money, incomes and mentally," he said.
He praised the Thai government's effort to restore peace in the region.
"Our delegation is happy to know the Thai government has given full attention to the Muslim community," he said. "Government projects aim to increase the incomes of Muslims in the South, [and] we hope they will help the community, especially the poor," he said.
Khazan said he suggested his Muslim fellows also take the opportunity to lift their ambitions for a better life.
"Islam teaches us to get a good life here and in the hereafter, learning religion not just to know how to pray, to fast, but how to get a better life - by knowledge, by education and by technology. In Malaysia we find a balance between Islamic study and secular study," he said.
By The Nation
Published on July 30, 2009
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/07/30/regional/regional_30108684.php
A nine-member delegation from the northern states of Terengganu and Kelantan made the offer during their visit to the deep South this week to gather first hand accounts from local people.
The three months' course aims to educate young Muslims in the deep South about the Islamic calendar to make sure people know important dates, notably during the fasting month of Ramadan, said Tuan Haji Khazan Bin Che Mat, chairman of Terengganu state government's committee for religion and information.
Khazan led the delegation to southern Thailand on July 26 - August 1 and met Islamic and community leaders, and government officials, including Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.
"We are happy to see the situation is not as we had heard, or as we had read in newspapers in our country," he said.
"Of course there are tragedies but they do not occur every day and in every place. So it is safe to visit southern Thailand," Khazan said.
However, the delegation failed to hear of several violent incidents during their visit, including a bomb at Dusongyor school in Narathiwat on Tuesday that injured six soldiers.
Khazan said he does not know the root cause of the violence in the deep South, but it had left Muslims with problems "with money, incomes and mentally," he said.
He praised the Thai government's effort to restore peace in the region.
"Our delegation is happy to know the Thai government has given full attention to the Muslim community," he said. "Government projects aim to increase the incomes of Muslims in the South, [and] we hope they will help the community, especially the poor," he said.
Khazan said he suggested his Muslim fellows also take the opportunity to lift their ambitions for a better life.
"Islam teaches us to get a good life here and in the hereafter, learning religion not just to know how to pray, to fast, but how to get a better life - by knowledge, by education and by technology. In Malaysia we find a balance between Islamic study and secular study," he said.
By The Nation
Published on July 30, 2009
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/07/30/regional/regional_30108684.php
No comments:
Post a Comment