Last year, the school celebrated Indonesia’s Independence Day for the first time, and it plans to mark the occasion again on Sunday (Aug 17).
“Our contribution from the pesantren to this country should not be questioned,” Ar-Rohmah’s director Kristyan Ahmad Saifulloh told CNA, in response to continued scrutiny from the public.
“We are not just slogans … We actively take part in educating the nation. That is something we have already been doing.”
MORE PESANTREN GETTING PERMITS
But change at Ar-Rohmah started long before JI’s dissolution.
It received an operational permit from Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs in 2021. So far, 21 former JI-linked pesantren have obtained such permits, which are required by the authorities to maintain the values and basic principles of pesantren education.
The ministry said it is assessing 30 pesantren with past JI ties for operational permits.
Dr Basnang Said, the ministry’s director of early childhood education and Islamic boarding schools, told CNA the process is a complicated one.
“We cannot rush just for the sake of meeting administrative requirements, only to end up violating certain principles. This is about the state, about the nation,” he added.
“We must work together to ensure the safety of the nation so that the pesantren institutions established are those that, in the end, remain loyal and highly dedicated to the country and the nation.”
Another pesantren in East Java – Al-Ihsan in Madiun city – is in the process of obtaining an operational permit.
Previously linked to JI, the school recently joined the country’s free nutritious meal programme that was launched in January this year.
The nationwide project, which is part of President Prabowo Subianto’s key campaign promises, aims to boost the nation’s human resource quality in the long term by improving nutrition in children’s meals and nurturing better educational outcomes.
Al-Ihsan’s acceptance of state programmes is a visible sign of its transformation.
“Once we have the permit, we will be able to contribute more in a formal capacity, and I believe that with it, the government will also allocate its own budget to advance education,” said the school’s principal Joko Supriyanto.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-ji-jemaah-islamiyah-former-leaders-schools-moderation-5292206
