TAIPEI TRADE OFFICE READY TO FACILITATE COOPERATION BETWEEN CNA AND MI'RAJ

Jakarta, 8 Rajab 1435/7 May, 2014 ( MINA ) – Director of Press Information Division, Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) in Indonesia , Tommy Lee said he was ready to facilitate cooperation between Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) and Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

“We are ready to facilitate this partnership and we look forward that MINA’s journalists could visit our country to make a journalistic tour and also cover Islamic News there,” Lee said in his first visit to the headquarters of MINA in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Meanwhile, MINA Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Syarif Hidayat said he warmly welcomed the plan. “In the near future, we will invite journalists from Taiwan to visit MINA Office and make a journalistic tour of some of our (Al-Fatah) Islamic educational institutions in Jakarta and Lampung (Sumatra),” he said.

Lee who ‘ve been to the ten big islands of Indonesia stated there are more than 60 thousand native Taiwanese who are Muslims.” Some of my colleagues who served as a civil servants in the government of Taiwan are Muslims,” he said.

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“Cooperation with MINA will have special meaning for us because thousands of Taiwanese people are Muslims. They need information and support from Indonesia’s Muslim majority,” said the man who had visited and stayed in Indonesia’ traditional Badui village for a week.

Taiwan government applies democracy and liberalism system. So, it provides greater opportunities to the Muslim community to express and perform their religion. ” The government also guarantees the freedom of religion under the law,” he added.

The presence of Islam and Muslims in Taiwan is not very old. Around 1949, thousands of Muslims from all parts of Mainland China migrated to Taiwan in company with the Nationalist government. Again in 1980 a big influx of Muslims from Thailand and Myanmar immigrated into this part of the world. The present population of Taiwan Muslims counts at about 60,000 which is 0.2 per cent of the total population.

Annually, Taipei Grand Mosque reports an estimated 100 converts at their mosque and Taipei Cultural Mosque reports 50 converts at their mosque.

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Most of the native Muslims are soldiers and public servants. There is about 200,000 to 250,00 expatriate Muslims here who came from the other Southeast Asian countries, mainly from Indonesia. Most of them work in manufacturing or construction industry, or in taking care of the seniors.
Historically, Islam’s arrival in Taiwan can be traced back to the later period of Ming dynasty and early period of Chin dynasty. During his seven voyages to the West in the early 15th century, the great Muslim navigator Zenghe (Abdul Sabur Ma) landed on Taiwan and preached Islam to the natives.
Cheng Ho, a Ming general, came to Taiwan with his army in 1661. There are many Muslim soldiers in his troops who had brought their families with them to Taiwan and settled down there.

The design and style of the mosque they built was like the mosques in Mainland China. During the Chin dynasty, Taiwan and Mainland China had a strong link. Muslims living in Mainland coasts also went to Taiwan with the tide of immigration so that they spread over the western coast of Taiwan.

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The Taipei Economic and Trade Office (TETO) Jakarta, Indonesia is the representative office of the Government of the Republic of China(Taiwan) in Indonesia. The mission of TETO is to take care of the interests of Taiwan and to promote bilateral relations between Taiwan and Indonesia

Taiwan’s national news agency, the Central News Agency (CNA) has been in operation longer than any other media outlet in the country and is also one of the largest. CNA has some of the most advanced telecommunications facilities in the country and is known for providing quality round-the-clock coverage of domestic and international news.

Founded in Guangzhou (Canton), southern China on April 1, 1924, CNA has developed into an international news agency that cooperates with many other major international news agencies around the globe. ( L/P04/P012/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency ( MINA)