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Hazar Imam with Princess Zahra at the 1995 Aga Khan Awards ceremony in Solo, Indonesia 1995-11-25

Your Royal Highness,
Honourable Minister,
Your Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,

The third seminar of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture has come to an end. I would like to thank the President, the Government of Indonesia and in particular the Minister of Religion for the exceptionally warm and welcoming manner with which we have been permitted to see some of the low cost housing being developed or improved in Indonesia. I must also thank our Indonesian friends who have participated in the seminar: for explaining some of the problems they have had to resolve, the considerations and objectives which inspired them, and what they have achieved.

Twelve winners of the 1995 Aga Khan Award for Architecture were announced on November 25, in Solo, Indonesia. Each of them, in the new of the 1995 Award Master Jury, makes a statement in a new critical discourse on architecture. 'The architectural and social problems facing Muslim societies require a sharper critique than they have received in the past,' the Master Jury declared following its final deliberations in June 1995.

We have long been looking forward to our first visit to Indonesia and its famed capital of Jakarta; the warmth of our welcome here has more than equalled our expectations. We are sincerely honoured that His Excellency the Vice President of Indonesia has consented to preside at the seminar's opening function, and that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan has joined us. Not only is he a distinguished guest, but a highly qualified seminar participant; his experience in developing housing projects in Jordan will be of great interest to us all.

President Soeharto of Indonesia inaugurated the 12th international seminar of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture entitled 'Contemporary Expressions of Islam in Building' at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday 15th October 1990. The Seminar was attended by Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs, His Excellency Munawar Sjadzaly whose ministry hosted it.