Mahfud MD: The Government Has Not Yet Decided To Revoke Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School Permits

Coordinating Minister For Political, Legal And Security Affairs Mahfud MD/DOK Instagram @mohmahfudmd

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menko Polhukam) Mahfud MD said the government had not yet decided to revoke the permit for the AL Zaytun Islamic Boarding School activities.

"There has been no decision until there, we (the government) have not come that far to decide. We have discussed it, but we have not decided on anything like that," Mahfud said after reporting the handling of the Al Zaytun polemic to Vice President Ma Ruf Amin at the Vice Presidential Palace, Jakarta, reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 4.

Mahfud said the government was also still accommodating West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil's proposal to freeze Al Zaytun's license.

"We accommodate it first. As a good input because he knows in the regions. He knows in the West Java field. But look at the top again, how about other areas? Don't have the implications of one place being closed, why not other areas. We (see) like helicopters, here from above, look down. Ridwan Kamil really saw that there was a problem that he had to propose, but we decided based on (seeing all of Indonesia)," he said.

Meanwhile, the government has decided three main steps in dealing with the Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School polemic.

The first step in the indictment to individuals, in this case the caretaker of the boarding school, namely Panji Gumilang, who is suspected of having committed a criminal act with existing reports.

"And now it has begun to enter the investigation, it has been investigated. An investigation has been announced, it's only a matter of time before the'suspect' (determination of the suspect). After the'suspect', the prosecution is in court. If it is the defendant, the prosecution. It's already a prosecution, a verdict, decision making," Mahfud explained.

The second step is for the existence of Al Zaytun as an educational institution, the interim government is of the opinion that rescue efforts are carried out with guidance, so that it can become an educational institution that is in accordance with its written vision and mission.

There should be no covert activities and insertion of activities that are not in accordance with statutory regulations. Therefore, the AL Zaytun educational institution consisting of two groups, one Islamic boarding school, the two schools ranging from ibtidaiyah, tsanawiyah to tertiary institutions will be fostered under the supervision of the Ministry of Religion, which has been indeed a supervisor," he said.

The third step related to social order and public security will be coordinated by the governor and the local vertical apparatus.

"There is a Polda for sure, then there is Kabinda (Head of Regional BIN), then the next layer of the TNI is certain," he explained.

Mahfud assessed that the Al Zaytun polemic does not need to be exaggerated anymore, because the main problem lies with the individual boarding school caregiver, Panji Gumilang.

"There's no need to exaggerate because actually the culprit is the person named Panji Gumilang. This has been handled. (Regarding) the institution, we will see the progress," he said.