President Jokowi Meets West Java Ulemas at State Palace
President Jokowi receives Ulemas from West Java at the State Palace, Jakarta, Tuesday (3/4). (Photo by Bureau of Press, Media and Information).
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Tuesday (3/4) at the State Palace received Muslim clerics (ulemas) from West Java province.
During the one-and-a-half-hour meeting, President Jokowi listened to aspirations from the ulemas about regional and national issues.
According to the President, aspirations from the ulemas reflect aspirations of common people since ulemas interact with the grassroots on a daily basis and the Government accommodates the aspirations and always formulates policies based on peoples needs.
During the meeting, the President and the ulemas also talked about efforts to empower Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) and ways to improve economic conditions in communities, as well as the Government’s policy on Micro Waqf Bank to boost economic growth, especially in Islamic Boarding Schools.
The most important thing is strong cooperation between ulema and umara (political leaders) to maintain national peace and security, the President said.
In the meantime, Chairman of Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) of West Java Chapter K.H. Rahmat Syafe’i said that the President and the ulemas also discussed the spreading of fake news (hoax), which has been very massive these days. According to him, ulemas have an obligation to remind the public of the dangers of hoax. “Ulemas have an obligation to remind the public that hoax is very misleading and must be overcome for the common good,” he said. (BPMI Setpres/ES) (RI/EP/Naster)
