Mandarin lessons sponsored by the Chinese government are held every Tuesday and Thursday inside Southeast Asia’s largest mosque, Masjid Istiqlal, in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The teachers and course materials for the Mandarin lessons are provided free of charge by the Confucius Institute at Universitas Al Azhar Indonesia, a university that seeks to “apply universal Islamic values in character building” as part of its mission. According to the Confucius Institute’s website, Indonesia has nine Confucius Institutes across the country.
Masjid Istiqlal has a capacity of 120,000 people, and was inaugurated in 1978 as Indonesia’s national mosque. 25 registered students—20 of whom work at the mosque—take the Chinese classes. One of them is the mosque’s public relations and protocol subsection chief, Saparwad.
søndag 29. september 2024
Is China’s Cultural Outreach to Muslims in Indonesia Working?
