MARSAH IS NOW KNOWN AS KOLEJ UNIVERSITI ISLAM JOHOR SULTAN IBRAHIM - EXCO

JOHOR BAHRU, April 7 (Bernama) -- The Kolej Pengajian Islam Johor (MARSAH), a state-owned institution of higher learning (IPT), is now known as the Kolej Universiti Islam Johor Sultan Ibrahim (KUIJSI).

State Islamic Religious Affairs Committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid said the new name and logo will be officiated by Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi after Aidilfitri, however, both can be used with immediate effect.

“The state Islamic Religious Council (MAINJ) allocated RM15 million as an initial incentive for the purpose of upgrading the IPT.

“The change in the name and logo of MARSAH is one of the success stories of the Islamic education system in Johor and this IPT has been accorded a higher rating,” he told reporters after the 2023 Khatam Quran (the completion of reciting the whole Quran) event involving 58 KUIJSI students here last night.

Mohd Fared added that some of the KUIJSI students have completed memorising the Quran in just 19 months and the success is also believed as the result of the Johor Islamic education syllabus which is very well organised and is over 100 years old.

At the ceremony, Mohd Fared also launched the Orang Muda Johor (OMJ) initiative to produce 500 certified young imams, 1,200 state huffaz (memoriser of the Quran) every year, starting this year, as well as produce 50,000 individuals to khatam Quran.

“For these three initiatives, KUIJSI was appointed as the secretariat that will supervise and coordinate these matters so that the KPI (key performance indicator) can be achieved by the end of this year,” he said.

KUIJSI was established by MAINJ in 1997 with the aim of further improving the standard of education at Maahad Johor to Islamic higher education by maintaining the position of Maahad Johor as a secondary school and MARSAH as an IPT.

Meanwhile, Mohd Fared said that mosques and surau in the state are free from political agendas after all government party leaders and balancers were seen complying with the guidelines on the prohibition of elements of politics in mosques and surau, issued by MAINJ.

Regarding the Suhaini Muhammad or Sihulk heretical group in the state, Mohd Fared said that he was still waiting for an official statement from the police investigation. However, he said there was no other report regarding the new provocation by the group.

On March 23, Johor police chief Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat was reported to have said that police and the Johor Islamic Religious Department (JAINJ) were tracking down six members of the Suhaini Muhammad or Sihulk heretical group, aged 20s to 30s, after they allegedly insulted Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in a TikTok video recently.

-- BERNAMA