A'an Suryana – The pesantren (Islamic boarding school) building that recently collapsed in Sidoarjo, East Java, killing at least 67 students, has exposed the lack of government oversight and the people's ignorance, especially in this particular pesantren community, of the need to construct buildings with proper engineering and government permits. Following the incident, the national government and construction experts emphasised the importance of complying with government-issued building permits, but socio-cultural and institutional solutions are needed to prevent such tragic incidents from recurring in Indonesia.

The grisly incident is a wake-up call for the national and local governments and the people about the sorry state of construction safety in Indonesia, particularly for pesantren. In its wake, experts have revealed that few pesantren buildings across Indonesia fully comply with the relevant government regulations. First, Dody Hanggodo, the minister of public works, revealed that for this year, only 51 out of 42,391 pesantren complied with government "building permit agreements" (Persetujuan Bangunan Gedung or PBG) and had a Sertifikat Laik Fungsi or SLF ("functionally sound" certificate). The first is a government permit that gives the go-ahead for a building to be built, while the latter is issued after government inspection, when that building is declared safe and usable.

The existence of safety regulations in construction, however, does not mean that in practice, these standards are upheld. For example, there are hundreds of pesantren in Ciamis regency, West Java, but between 2009 and 2025, only 68 had obtained both a PBG and an SLF. It is unclear whether the majority of pesantren buildings in Ciamis – or elsewhere – comply with government regulations.

The problem partly stems from socio-cultural factors, which may include the lack of awareness among pesantren owners about the importance of constructing buildings that comply with government regulations, with prudent engineering. Many pesantren are in rural areas which may lack engineering experts and construction professionals. Also, there is a belief among such communities that their pesantren should be "from santri, for santri" (santri is a term for pesantren students), so this may contribute to their thinking that permits from external sources, including the government, are not needed.

Another problem is institutional, namely, the pesantrens' lack of funds. While the number of well-funded pesantren has increased in urban areas, as they cater to the needs of wealthier Muslim families, the majority of pesantren in Indonesia are traditional, rural, and house students from humble families who study with the respective kiai (pesantren owners who are recognised as experts in Islam). By tradition, a kiai cannot reject students who seek his teaching; it is seen as socially and culturally improper for kiai to charge steep fees. As a result, these kiai tend to lack proper funds to finance their educational enterprise, including for planning and constructing their pesantren.

While some pesantren have tried to get other sources of funding, such as from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, funds are limited and largely available for state-run pesantren (which comprise five per cent of pesantren in Indonesia). Some pesantren can also get funding from politicians, in return for votes that the pesantren can mobilise during election campaigns. However, this applies mainly to the bigger pesantren run by influential kiais (who are stronger vote-getters).

Worse still, in some cases, due to lack of funding, pesantren owners let or make their students participate in constructing their school's buildings, even if they have no expertise in construction. This practice was exposed following the Sidoarjo incident, revealed in media interviews with some parents of former students. Apparently, students joined professional builders and were proud of contributing to their pesantren. Yet others were forced to do so by their teachers as a form of punishment. In a recent piece of footage that went viral, hundreds of students from a different school, Lirboyo pesantren in East Java, helped to construct a complex that included multi-storey buildings.

Following the pesantren building collapse, the government has promised to assist pesantren in complying with building permits. Coordinating Minister of People's Empowerment Muhaimin Iskandar, who is of the Nadhlatul Ulama's kiai lineage and thus a key member of the pesantren community, has stated that the government would set aside some money to help to renovate pesantren with vulnerable buildings.

However, institutional solutions such as ensuring that pesantren have the proper building permits and financial support from the government cannot ensure a similar incident will not recur. More important would be to find a sociocultural solution, to build awareness among pesantren leaders and communities that they must construct buildings with proper engineering, because this is the root of the problem. Obliging these communities to secure building permits is necessary, yet the rampant corruption in the issuance of such permits is an obstacle. In some cases, government building inspectors have allowed construction to progress despite poor engineering, in return for bribes. So long as these problems are not addressed, there is no guarantee that future tragic collapses of pesantren buildings can be stopped.

[A'an Suryana is a Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute and a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia.]

Source: https://fulcrum.sg/the-collapsed-pesantren-building-in-east-java-is-a-wake-up-call-for-indonesia