A delegation of six (6) young leaders from Malaysia visited Melbourne, Australia recently (8-10 December 2013). The visit was held under the auspices of the Australia Malaysia Institute (AMI)’s Cultural Exchange Program. This is the second time such a program is held this year and funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. The program in Melbourne among others included the visit by the young leaders to the soon to be opened Islamic Museum of Australia in Melbourne on Monday (9/12/2013).
AMI was established in 2005 to strengthen people-to-people and institutional links between Australia and Malaysia and to deepen mutual understanding and cooperation between both nations. This time around, among the young leaders from Malaysia participating in the said program were:-Dr Fathul bin Mat Jahya (Member of the UMNO Youth’s Executive Committee); YB Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (Head of PKR’s Youth Wing); Datin Nirvana Jalil Ghani (Press Secretary to YB Menteri Luar); Puan Fadhlina Siddiq (Vice-President ABIM); Encik Onn Hafiz Ghazi (Executive Committee member of UMNO Youth); and Encik Khairul Amar Razali (Managing Director of the Al-Maghrib Institute). Dato Dr Rameez had the opportunity to meet all of them when he joined them for the visit to the Islamic Museum of Australia located at Thornbury, Melbourne.
During the visit, the Malaysian young leaders were briefed on the arrival of Islam in Australia, as well as on the Museum. Currently there are around 480,000 Moslems in Australia (2.2% of the total population of Australia). Islam first came to Australia from the early 1700s when Moslem fishermen from Makassar, Sulawesi began making annual visits to the North and Western Australian coast in search of trepang (a type of sea slug).
With regard to the Museum, it was informed that the Islamic Museum of Australia is a community foundation with the vision of establishing a leading cultural institution to showcase and preserve the arts, history, culture and rich heritage that Islam and Moslem societies have brought to the world and most importantly to Australia.
