REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Senior officials of religious affairs ministries of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to establish a committee to intensify cooperation in Islamic education among the four ASEAN member nations.

"We want to encourage Islamic education institutions such as madrasah, Islamic boarding schools, and universities in the four nations to strengthen cooperation," Secretary General of Indonesia's Religious Affairs Minister Bahrul Hayat said here on Sunday after attending the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) of the Ministers in-charge of Religious Affairs of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore (Mabims).

The Mabims' 38th SOM was organized in Langkawi Island, Malaysia, on October 28-31, 2013.

The senior officials agreed that they would further discuss the plan to establish the Islamic education committee in the upcoming Annual International Conference on Islamic Studies (AICIS) which will be organized in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), Indonesia, on November 18, 2013.

Mabims is the acronym for the unofficial meeting of the Religious Affairs Ministers of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Thailand and the Philippines were invited as observers to the biennial meeting.

Mabims was established on August 9, 1989 during the meeting among religious affairs ministers from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei Darussalam in Brunei Darussalam. In 1994, Singapore joined the grouping.

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