teradesa.com After Indonesia’s independence in 1945, the great desire to build a mosque that could be a place of pride for Jakarta residents as well as a place to worship had settled in the hearts of Indonesian citizens. KH Wahid Hasyim, the first Minister of Religious Affairs and several scholars proposed to build a mosque that could become a symbol for Indonesia. In 1953, KH. Wahid Hasyim, as the first Minister of Religion of the Republic of Indonesia together with H. Agus Salim, Anwar Tjokroaminoto and Ir. Sofwan and assisted by around 200 Islamic leaders led by KH. Taufiqorrahman proposed to establish a foundation. On December 7, 1954, the Istiqlal Mosque Foundation was established, chaired by H. Tjokroaminoto, to realize the idea of building a national mosque.
H. Tjokroaminoto conveyed the mosque construction plan to Ir. Soekarno and apparently received a warm welcome and will get full assistance from the president Ir. Soekarno since 1954 by the committee was appointed as head of the engineering section of the construction of the Istiqlal Mosque, and he also became chairman of the jury to assess the Istiqlal mock-up competition.
Determination of the Location of the Istiqlal Mosque
The determination of the location of the Mosque had caused a debate between Bung Karno and Bung Hatta, who at that time served as Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. Bung Karno proposed a location on the former Dutch fort Frederick Hendrik with Wilhelmina Park built by Governor General Van Den Bosch in 1834 which is located between Jalan Perwira, Jalan Lapangan Banteng, Jalan Katedral and Jalan Veteran. While Bung Hatta proposed that the location of the mosque be located in the center of the people, namely on Jalan Thamrin, which at that time was surrounded by many villages, besides that he also considered that the demolition of the Dutch fort would require a lot of funds. But finally President Soekarno decided to build on the land of the former Dutch fort. Because the Cathedral Church had been built on the opposite side with the aim of showing the harmony and harmony of religious life in Indonesia.
Development
The first pillar was laid by President Soekarno on August 24, 1961 to coincide with the commemoration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, witnessed by thousands of Muslims. Furthermore, the implementation of the construction of this mosque did not go smoothly. Since it was planned in 1950 until 1965 there has not been much progress. The project stalled, due to the unfavorable political situation. At that time, parliamentary democracy prevailed, political parties were fighting each other to fight for their respective interests. This condition peaked in 1965 when the G30S/PKI incident erupted, so the construction of the mosque was completely stopped. After the political situation subsided, in 1966, Minister of Religious Affairs KH. Muhammad Dahlan spearheaded the rebuilding of this mosque. The management was held by KH. Idham Chalid who acted as the Coordinator of the National Committee for the Construction of the Istiqlal Mosque.
Seventeen years later, the Istiqlal Mosque was completed. It began on August 24, 1961, and was inaugurated by President Soeharto on February 22, 1978,[19] marked by an inscription installed in the staircase area of the As-Salam door. The construction cost was obtained mainly from the state budget of Rp. 7,000,000,000 (seven billion rupiah) and US$. 12.000.000
