"We are working on this progress, and we are attempting to build cooperation with the official news agencies," UNA's Financial Director Saud Al-Shiekhy informed journalists from several countries during a visit to the UNA office here on Sunday (July 15).
Currently, the UNA publishes news in three languages -- Arabic, English, and French -- in various forms of media, such as websites, and newsletters or bulletins that are distributed to the news agencies.
The UNA also utilizes social media platforms -- Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Google Plus -- to disseminate their news.
According to Al-Shiekhy, the UNA will allocate a space for journalists from the news agencies to directly send the news in Bahasa Indonesia, upload them on the site, and place them in newsletters.
Currently, native speakers of Indonesian-Malay are approximately 265 million from Indonesia, 32 million from Malaysia, 5.7 million from Singapore, and 430 thousand of Brunei Darussalam.
Indonesian-Malay speakers also include those living in Thailand's southernmost provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat, which share borders with Malaysia.
Bahasa Indonesia is also studied in schools and non-academic institutions in several countries, such as Australia, China, and Russia.
Furthermore, Al-Shiekhy explained that the UNA has outlined several main goals, such as encouraging the Muslim community to gain awareness of political, economic, and social issues; preserving and protecting Islamic cultural heritage; strengthening relations among member countries; and highlighting issues related to the Islamic world, especially those concerning Palestine and Jerusalem.
The UNA, formerly known as the International Islamic News Agency, was established based on a resolution issued during the Third Session of the Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah in 1972. Currently, the UNA comprises 57 news agencies from OIC member countries.
Reporter: Libertina W. Ambari
Editor: Bambang Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
