Speakers at UiTM seminar were never Catholic priest or nun, say Indonesia’s bishops
(TMI) – Claims by a speaker at one Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) seminar that he was formerly a Catholic priest who had converted to Islam is not true, Indonesian church authorities confirmed to The Malaysian Insider.
Going by the name Insan L.S. Mokoginta, the speaker told 1,000-odd students at the religiously-charged seminar on May 6 that he was a former Catholic priest who converted to Islam in 1976.
But Bishops Conference of Indonesia executive secretary Father Edy Purwanto has revealed that he had no information or data on Mokoginta.
Mokoginta had spoken on “The Threat of Christianisation” at the seminar and further said that “every follower of Jesus should convert to Islam otherwise it would be a betrayal to Him”.
Checks on another speaker, Irena Handono, who claimed she was a former Catholic nun, also showed that it was not true, as she did not complete her “education”.
Purwanto said checks by the Indonesian church revealed that Irene was only briefly with the Congregation of the Ursuline Sisters as a novice.
“She never completed.
“After that we don’t know where she ended up getting ‘educated’, to the point now where she is speaking at seminars mostly belittling Christianity, especially the Catholic church,” Purwanto said.
He added that while initially Irene’s appearances at public seminars were frequent and popular, it has since waned.
The souvenir programme of the seminar. – May 19, 2014.UiTM’s Academy of Contemporary Islamic Studies (ACIS) dean Professor Dr Muhamad Rahimi Osman declined to comment when asked about the two Indonesian speakers.
“The case is under police investigation so I will not comment,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
Another “suspect” speaker at the seminar was Prof Dr Menehim Ali, who was was listed as “Pakar Kristologi Universitas Bandung” in UiTM’s souvenir programme.
A google search found no such university. What comes up instead is a list of universities in Bandung city itself.
It is unclear, however, if Menehim goes by any other name, as in its report on the seminar, national news agency Bernama identified him as Prof Dr Menachem Ali, an Islamic Philology and Semitic Studies academician at the Airlangga University, Surabaya, East Jawa.
