OIC Media Organ to Publish News in Indonesian Language

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, MINA — Preparations are underway to use Bahasa Indonesia in the news published by the Union of News Agencies (UNA), which is a specialized media organ of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC)., Antara News reported.

“We are working on this progress, and we are attempting to build cooperation with the official news agencies,” UNA’s Financial Director Saud Al-Shiekhy informed journalists from several countries during a visit to the UNA office here on Sunday (July 15).

Currently, the UNA publishes news in three languages — Arabic, English, and French — in various forms of media, such as websites, and newsletters or bulletins that are distributed to the news agencies.

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The UNA also utilizes social media platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Plus — to disseminate their news.

According to Al-Shiekhy, the UNA will allocate a space for journalists from the news agencies to directly send the news in Bahasa Indonesia, upload them on the site, and place them in newsletters.

Currently, native speakers of Indonesian-Malay are approximately 265 million from Indonesia, 32 million from Malaysia, 5.7 million from Singapore, and 430 thousand of Brunei Darussalam.

Indonesian-Malay speakers also include those living in Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat, which share borders with Malaysia.

Bahasa Indonesia is also studied in schools and non-academic institutions in several countries, such as Australia, China, and Russia.

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Furthermore, Al-Shiekhy explained that the UNA has outlined several main goals, such as encouraging the Muslim community to gain awareness of political, economic, and social issues; preserving and protecting Islamic cultural heritage; strengthening relations among member countries; and highlighting issues related to the Islamic world, especially those concerning Palestine and Jerusalem.

The UNA, formerly known as the International Islamic News Agency, was established based on a resolution issued during the Third Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah in 1972. Currently, the UNA comprises 57 news agencies from OIC member countries. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)