Mahfud Said The Ministry Of Religion Provides Assistance To Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding Schools, Including Students And Teachers

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD. (doc the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs)

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD conveyed the results of the meeting regarding the fate of Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding Schools (Ponpes), one of which assigned the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) to provide assistance to Islamic boarding schools, including students and their educators.

Mahfud MD said the assistance was a guarantee for the government to keep teaching and learning activities at Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School running. Even though the head of the boarding school, Panji Gumilang, was named a suspect and detained by Bareskrim Polri.

"First, (the results of the meeting) assigned the Minister of Religion accompanied by the Governor of West Java and the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police to provide assistance to the Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School so that the education of pesantrenan that has been running daily until now is guaranteed its sustainability," said Mahfud MD when delivering the results of a meeting with several ministers and the Governor of West Java (Jabar) Ridwan Kamil at the Kemenkumham Jakarta Office, Thursday, July 3, confiscated by Antara.

Mahfud MD conveyed that the accompanying team from the Ministry of Religion was also given the authority by the government to evaluate the implementation of education at Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School, including its educators.

The purpose of the assessment, said Mahfud, is to ensure learning and teaching activities at Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School in accordance with statutory provisions.

"Including here, Bareskrim provides security guarantees for anyone who will carry out legal processes and check the pesantren environment," he said.

Therefore, Mahfud asked the students not to worry about the fate of Al Zaytun Islamic Boarding School, along with the existence of an assessment team that would later come directly to Ponpes to evaluate the teachers, activities, and programs at the Islamic boarding school.

"Pasantren residents should not panic. Their rights are given completely and protected. If there is something that deviates from providing protection for constitutional rights, this should be voiced so that those of us in Jakarta can hear whether it is true or not," he said.

A number of ministers who attended the meeting included the Indonesian Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Minister of Home Affairs Tito Karnavian, and Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasonna Laoly. Then, there was also an official from the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police.

Bareskrim Polri officially detained Panji Gumilang as a suspect in the alleged blasphemy case on Wednesday, August 2 at 02.00 WIB.

"After being named a PG (Panji Gumilang) as a suspect on August 1, 2023, investigators have examined PG's brother as a suspect," said Head of the Public Information Bureau (Karopenmas) of the Public Relations Division of the National Police Headquarters Brigadier General Pol Ahmad Ramadhan.

He explained that Panji's detention was effective for 20 days from August 2, 2023 to August 21, 2023.

"Detention at the Bareskrim Detention Center for 20 days until August 21, 2023," said Ramadhan.

The police charged Panji Gumilang with multiple articles, namely Article 14 paragraph (1) of Law Number 1 of 1946 concerning Criminal Law Regulations which carries a penalty of 10 years in prison.

Then, Article 45 a paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 28 paragraph (2) of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) which carries a penalty of 6 years in prison, plus Article 156 a of the Criminal Code which carries a threat of 5 years in prison.