Jakarta – West Java governor-elect Ridwan Kamil has pledged to develop a province-wide village program for nurturing hafiz, or Muslims that have memorized the Quran, during his term in office.

"[..] Then the mosques in all 6,000 villages in West Java will be led by amazing huffaz," Ridwan said on Sunday, referring to the Arabic term.

He was speaking on the occasion of the 2018 International Quran Recitation Competition (MTQ) and the fifth Congress of the Nahdlatul Ulama's Jam'iyyatul Qurrra wal-Huffazh, an organization of Quran readers and memorizers, which were held at the Asshiddqiyah Islamic boarding school in Karawang, West Java.

"I am committed to sending those huffaz across West Java, so there will be new Islamic standards in West Java," he said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Although he is yet to be inaugurated, Ridwan claimed to be preparing a draft academic bylaw on pesantren (Islamic boarding schools) to justify funding for all pesantren in West Java.

If the bylaw was passed, the West Java administration would be able to provide financial assistance annually, so the pesantren students could focus on their studies and their parents would be freed of the financial burdens from school fees. Ridwan also promised to improve the facilities at pesantren.

The five-day Quran recitation competition was opened on Wednesday by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. Participants from Indonesia and beyond competed by the hundreds, participating in several different categories including Quranic recitation, interpretation and memorization. Foreign participants included those from Brunei, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Morocco, Singapore and Thailand. (swd)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/07/16/west-java-governor-elect-vows-to-regenerate-hafiz.html