
Ali Taher: “Islamic Education is the Progress of Islamic Civilization in Indonesia
Monday (2018/10/15) – Commission VIII of the House of Representatives of Republic of Indonesia conducted a Specific Working Visit to the Province of South Kalimantan to review the implementation of a project funded by the State Sharia Securities (SBSN) in the environment of Ministry of Religious Affairs, one of them, it is in UIN Antasari Banjarmasin. The group was led by the Head of Commission VIII, Dr. M. Ali Taher, M.Hum, so was followed by its Deputy Head, Dr. Ir. H.D. Sodik Mudjahid, M.Sc and the members of the commission, including H. Iskan Qolba Lubis, M.A., Dr. K.H. Jalaludin Rakhmat, M.Sc., Budiman Sudjatmiko, M.Sc., M.Phil., Dra. I. Gusti Agung Pustri Astrid, MA., Drs. H. Samsu Niang, M.Pd., Hj. Dra. Wenny Haryanto, S.H., Evi Zainal Abidin, B.Comm., and Dian Arivani, S.E., M.S.M. The council delegation was also likened by the Director of Zakat and Endowments of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, H. Fuad Nazar, M.Sc., Directorate Office of Religious and Sakinah Family Affairs, H. Jajang Ridwan, MA. The Rector of UIN Antasari, Prof. Dr. H. Mujiburrahman, MA., directly welcomed the guests at the Zafry Zamzam Hall along with the vice rectors and deans of UIN Antasari Banjarmasin.
“UIN Antasari is very grateful to the attedance of Commission VIII who is pleased to take the time coming to our campus. SBSN’s assistance is very meaningful to improve the quality of Islamic Universities in South Kalimantan. Last year, UIN Antasari received the funding to construct the lecturing building of Sharia Faculty and Islamic Economics and Business Faculty. This year we also receive an assistance funding to build an Integrated Lecturer Room and a Religious Laboratory which we aimed to be a boarding house as as well as for cadre training. Especially for the cadre training, we do this as a response to the radicalism movement so that we want to help for forming moderate cadres / religious leaders, who can integrate Islam and nationality values for the integrity of the Republic of Indonesia, “as the Rector explained in his remarks.
Head of South Kalimantan Regional Office of Ministry of Religious Affairs, Drs. Noor Fahmy, M.M., also appreciated the visit of the Central of RI’s House of Representatives. “In 2017, South Kalimantan received an assistance to build the KUA and the Hajj Training Building. This year, there here are assistance fundings for 7 KUA buildings in 5 districts, as well as assistance for integrated laboratories in MAN Insan Cendekia Tanah Laut, in addition to assistance for UIN Antasari Banjarmasin. Thus, I am so grateful because the SBSN’s assistance is very important to build education’s progress in South Kalimantan, “as he said.
“One of the tasks of the RI’s Representative House is to monitor whether the budget for assistance is to be received or not. So we made a visit to UIN Antasari Banjarmasin. We want to see if this development is running, what costs are needed, and what are the obstacles, “as Ali Taher said, he also conveyed the intention of the Commission VIII’s visit. He supports the construction of religious laboratory buildings to ward off radicalism, and in this case the Ministry of Religious Affairs should be the proctor, so there is no radicalism. The Head of the Commission VIII strongly supports the use of SBSN’s assistance funding for educational purposes. “Islamic education is the progress of Islamic civilization in Indonesia,” he concluded.