Vice President Ma'ruf Amin Highlights Violence That Occurs In Islamic Boarding Schools

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin/PHOTO BETWEEN HO BPMI SETWAPRES

BOGOR - Several reports of violence and acts of sexual harassment that occurred in Islamic boarding schools have attracted the attention of many parties. The Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ma'ruf Amin, emphasized that such pesantren need to be monitored more closely.

"Of course we will monitor the pesantren closely, actually the existing pesantren are like that case, it's not a feature of pesantren," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin giving a press statement after attending the groundbreaking for the construction of mosques and Islamic boarding schools in Rawagede, Sukamakmur District, Bogor Regency, West Java, quoted from ANTARA, Sunday.

He conveyed that pesantren is a place to score someone a noble character. If there is violence in the pesantren, he said, then it is not part of the students who want to advance pesantren.

"When there is a case, it is a deviation. This means it is not pesantren people, building pesantren, not his students. If students don't have a character like that, so there is smuggling. Smuggling, misappropriation, non-santri using pesantren causes problems," said Vice President Ma'ruf Amin.

Therefore, the Vice President requested that later there be a kind of Kiai Council tasked with supervising pesantren so that violence does not occur.

"Well, we'll ask later, later there will be a kind of Kiai Council to supervise it, don't let things like that happen," said the Vice President.

The Vice President further said that the existence of Islamic boarding schools is still important to create people who understand religion.

"Why is it necessary for the boarding school? Because indeed Islamic boarding schools are places to print people who understand religion, the language we usually use prepare people who understand religion. Why? Because people who understand religion are people who continue the struggle, because these scholars do not all live forever, they will die one by one, there must be a replacement," said the Vice President.

Previously, the Child Friendly Islamic Boarding School Network (JPPRA) stated that pesantren must be at the forefront of creating a future generation or human resource (HR) with noble character without using the method of violence.

JPPRA National Coordinator Kiai Yoyon Syukron Amin said this was a form of firmness by his side in tackling violence in the pesantren world, as recently happened in West Aceh.

"We are very concerned about this incident and strongly condemn all forms of violence in Islamic boarding schools. Islamic boarding schools must be a safe and comfortable place for children to study, not a place where they become victims of violence," Kiai Yoyon said in his official statement on Friday (4/10).

So, according to him, there must be further evaluation of the educational system in the pesantren so that similar incidents do not happen again in the future and remove the bad image of pesantren.