Muslim community should utilize fundamental strengths: President Jokowi

Jakarta, NU Online
The global Muslim community should use its fundamental strengths to face the political situation, which is becoming increasingly unpredictable, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) stated.

The demographic composition of Muslims was considered to be the best compared to other groups in the world as the proportion of the Muslim youth population was the highest, President Jokowi noted in his opening remarks before participants of the 12th World Islamic Economic Forum (WIEF) held at the Jakarta Convention Center, here, Tuesday.

"The Muslim community should use one of its fundamental strengths, which is its demographic potential. The average age of Muslim youth in the world is 23 years and that of its middle-age group is 30 years," the head of state remarked.

Besides this, Sharia finance is now worth millions of dollars, he emphasized.

"The Muslim community has also developed swiftly in the fields of fashion, culinary arts, and architecture and has tapped the potential to create a new world economy," he remarked.

However, the Indonesian Muslim community also faces a major problem of unemployment, particularly among young people.

To address this issue, the Muslim community should utilize technology to make innovations that could offer added value, among other things.

Innovations could produce winners, but they must be implemented carefully to ensure they could contribute to the peoples welfare, he noted.

"We are compelled to decide whether we could interact and compete with others. We are not that powerful in the media, the social media, and technology, therefore, we have not won the perception war," the president affirmed.

Without being well-trained and educated, the Muslim community would be left behind in future, he stated.

President Jokowi, in his speech, also emphasized the importance of promoting an open culture, tolerance, and respect to the differences among the worlds communities.

The WIEF is being held on August 2-4, and its opening ceremony was attended by President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, President of Guinea Alpha Conde, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Shriyan Wickemenshinghe, Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Tun Abdul Razak, Deputy Prime Minister concurrently Trade Minister of Jordan Dr Jawad Al Anani, and President of Islamic Development Islam Dr Ahmad Mohamed Ali, among others.

The forum is themed "Decentralizing Growth, Empowering Future Business." (Antara/Masdar)