Inter-religious Organizations Participate in Istiqlal Cleanup

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture is currently holding a mass-clean up in Southeast Asia’s largest Mosque, Istiqlal, in welcoming the 1439H Ramadan month.

According to the Ministry’s director of heritage and diplomacy, Nadjamuddin Ramly, the event, which will last till May 15, does not only involve the Mosque’s janitors, but also members of several Islamic groups and general communities. 

“It was confirmed that the clean up this time involved the University of Indonesia (UI) Mapala group and outdoors club from State University of Jakarta (UNJ) , Trisakti, UIN Syarif Hidayatullah, and several other communities that are not campus-managed,” said Nadjamuddin after opening the event this morning.

Furthermore, Nadjamuddin revealed that community members with various religious beliefs other than Islam also took part in the event. Ananta, a UI Mapala member who is also a Catholic, said that Istiqlal’s status drove her to participate in maintaining the Mosque. 

“I found out that the Istiqlal Mosque has been named as a national cultural heritage under the ministry’s decree in 2017. So, as a student of Archeology, there is nothing wrong in maintaining a cultural heritage site,” said Ananta. 

SALSABILA PUTRI PERTIWI | TD