IO, Jakarta – Minister of Defense of Malaysia HE Mr. Muhamad Sabu played an energetic role in a discussion at the PBNU Building on Saturday, January 25, 2020 with the theme “New Hope for the Muslim World: Strengthening Indonesia-Malaysia relations.” The discussion took place in the context of a series of visits by the Malaysian Defense Minister to Indonesia. This discussion, said Yenny Wahid, aims to strengthen cooperation between the two countries to promote religious moderation in the region and in the world.
Important figures who participated in the discussion included the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD, PBNU Chairperson Said Aqil Siradj and the daughter of RI’s 4th President Abdurrahman Wahid alias Gus Dur, Yeny Wahid.
Previously the Malaysian Defense Minister, Muhamad Sabu also met with Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto, Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander in Chief Marshal Hadi Mulyono and Minister of Home Affairs (Mendagri) Tito Karnavian.
Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu said that Muslims today feel quite left behind. Even though Islam champions the highest teachings and while nothing is higher than Islam, the people are actually backward. Sabu said this happens because Muslims did not carry out their teachings such as maintaining cleanliness, maintaining trust and unity. The teachings of Islam state that Muslims are all one and brothers, but in reality, the elements of certain Islamic groups instead quarrel and fight with each other. “(They shout) Allahu Akbar, and then the bomb is exploded,” he complains, as a holy sentence is used to fight against other Muslims. As a result, Islamic countries cannot build their own civilizations.
Mohamad Sabu said that Islamic values are actually implemented by non-Islamic countries such as Japan. They carry out Islamic teachings such as discipline, adherence to law and mandates. If the Japanese people would say the two sentences of shahada, said Sabu, then they would be the best Muslim population in the world.
On the occasion, the Coordinating Minister for Political Law and Security of Indonesia Mahfud MD emphasized that in the teachings of Islam there is no statement of the form of a state. Indonesia and Malaysia, whose residents are mostly Muslims, have different forms. The important thing, according to the Minister of Defense at the time of President KH Abdurrahman Wahid for the Islamic state was that the values of Islamic teachings should be adhered to.
Meanwhile, KH Said stated that Indonesia and Malaysia would become the center of Islamic culture in the future. It is time for Indonesia and Malaysia to hold bilateral meetings more frequently to equalize perceptions to further enhance cooperation. He also called on all parties not to reignite conflicts between religion and the state because both of them have been completed by previous scholars embracing a nationalist-religious vision, such as Hadratussyekh KH Hasyim Asy’ari. (OHW)