Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School Tragedy, 67 Santri Died FSGI: Don't Reward Negligence With State Budget Funds

JAKARTA The Federation of Indonesian Teachers' Unions (FSGI) condemned the government's plan to discuss the rebuilding of the Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School (Ponpes) prayer center (Ponpes) in Sidoarjo using the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN).

FSGI assessed that this step hurt the sense of justice for the families of victims of the tragedy of the collapse of a building that killed dozens of students in early October.

"An investigation should have been carried out first of the tragedy of the collapse of the Ponpes building in Sidoarjo. Don't build it right away, especially at the cost of the state budget. The incident killed 67 students, who in fact are still children," said Chairman of the FSGI Expert Council Retno Listyarti in his statement, Monday, October 12.

Retno emphasized that the use of the APBN to rebuild the prayer room has the potential to provide gifts' to negligent parties.

"Don't let those who are negligent and result in the death of 67 children be given gifts at the expense of the state budget. This is very unfair and hurts the feelings of the victims and the public," he said.

Until now, the police are still investigating the cause of the collapse of the Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School prayer room building. At least dozens of witnesses have been examined with alleged violations of Articles 359 and 360 of the Criminal Code regarding negligence that caused death and injuries.

The police also traced the technical aspects of the building referring to Law Number 28 of 2002 concerning Buildings. The police were asked to check the planning documents and building permits, after civil structure experts said the construction of the prayer room did not meet technical rules.

Furthermore, FSGI also highlighted the alleged involvement of students in the construction process. A number of students admitted that they participated in casting buildings without construction expertise.

"The involvement of the students in the construction of the Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School prayer room can be strongly suspected of violating the Child Protection Law because it has the potential to be used as exploitation of children. They learn to gain knowledge, not become construction workers," said FSGI General Chair Fahmi Hatib.

One of the santri's guardians, Ahmad Zabidi, said that his son was safe because he was resting in the room when the disaster occurred. "If it was still on the building, of course it would fall along with the collapsed material," said Fahmi.

Fahmi assessed that at least three parties must be held accountable, namely the management or manager of Islamic boarding schools, contractors, and the government.

According to Fahmi, the boarding school manager was negligent because he continued to use the building even though the casting was being carried out. Contractors can also be held accountable if technical negligence elements are found. Meanwhile, the government is considered to have failed to create an effective monitoring system and enforce strict building permits.

"If it is proven negligent, don't use the state budget to rebuild it. It is not the responsibility of the public, but the Islamic boarding school," said Fahmi.

In addition, FSGI also urged the government to think about the fate of surviving students but experiencing disabilities due to the tragedy, as well as ensuring the recovery of psychological trauma for survivors.

"This tragedy should be an important lesson for all educational institutions to strengthen child protection in the learning and life process in the pesantren environment," he concluded.