Irna Nurlina – Tragedies like the collapse of an Islamic boarding school in mid-September in West Java require nuanced solutions and hard soul-searching. Hope and inspiration may come from within the country, indeed, within the same province.
While all eyes have been on the fallout from the case of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in East Java, the ongoing construction of a 'green' mosque in West Java province offers some lessons for reimagining the pesantren ecosystem in Indonesia.
On 14 September 2025, a private pesantren, named Peacesantren Welas Asih, in Garut, West Java, reportedly began constructing the first mosque in Indonesia whose walls will be primarily made from pallets of recycled plastics, taken from the surrounding community. Just two weeks later, on 29 September 2025, a pesantren building of the Al Khoziny School in Sidoarjo, East Java collapsed mid-construction during afternoon prayers, killing 67 people and injuring more than 170 others.
Since then at least two other Indonesian pesantren have been in the news for collapsed structures, demonstrating a worrying and insidious trend. There was much press coverage after the Al Khoziny school incident, which was caused by unauthorised building extensions, poor ongoing construction and inadequate safety measures. Various perspectives and some measures such as building audits, urgent repairs, and improving governance have been tabled, but there has been little discussion on addressing questions of possible mismanagement and viable alternative models of pesantren education.
Looking to other examples, such as that of the Peacesantren among other inspirational Islamic institutions and Muslim groups, could hold some answers and highlight the potential for reforming pesantren construction and culture in Indonesia.
The 22nd of October was Santri Day, which invited sobering responses and reflections revisiting the Al Khoziny incident and the place of santri (students of pesantren) and pesantren in Indonesian society. The recent incidents have surfaced different diagnoses of a multifaceted ecosystem, with acknowledgement in public discourse that there is a conservative-progressive spectrum of pesantren serving as academic and social institutions, which continue to evolve.
Commentators have aptly highlighted the weak regulatory oversight and unethical construction practices in some cases and raised long-held but rarely publicly acknowledged child labour and exploitation concerns. These build on previous analyses on the need for better sociocultural (such as increasing awareness of pesantren leaders and communities) and institutional solutions (such as funding), beyond stricter enforcement of existing regulations for construction safety. To improve oversight and governance of pesantren, which till now has been under the Islamic Education directorate general of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, a new directorate general of pesantren under that ministry was announced by President Prabowo Subianto on Santri Day.
While substantial, the discourse thus far on the multiple causes and solutions for cases like the pesantren collapse has only alluded to issues with leadership. If people expect pesantren owners and leaders to be respected and to hold great responsibility, then the community needs to further unpack what is going on in this layer of Indonesia's pesantren ecosystem.
Regrettably, power asymmetry is evident in who gets questioned regarding their culpability and who is expected to reconcile the aftermath of such tragic incidents. Thus far, the authorities' focus has been on the santri and their parents, with the pesantren subculture (which includes santri doing communal good works as part of their education) being put on the defensive. There has been little critical and direct scrutiny on pesantren leadership, however, which imposes tough demands on those closer to the system and the communities, which include santri and their parents, in which these pesantren operate.
The example of Peacesantren Welas Asih may thus offer a different mode of pesantren leadership and education which is more in tune with changing local and global Islamic sensibilities. Behind the claim of building of Indonesia's first 'plastic' mosque lies the pesantren management's considered approach to religion and the environment, which includes the surrounding communities and natural habitats. The educators, students and community have been involved in managing their waste, including plastic and rice husks, and improving their living environment. This has progressively led to their building a mosque, which was needed for the school and for community use. There was a crowdfunding campaign and a demonstration of different expertise and openness to diverse ideas and backgrounds beyond the pesantren community in the conceptualisation and realisation of their new pesantren building.
Yet a project like this could run the risk of repeating popular eco-discourses as part of its branding and aesthetics, which is why safeguards such as community involvement and public accountability are crucial. This is something which Indonesia's emerging Green Islam movement espouses. Efforts such as these demonstrate the value and ethics of building from below, such as in communal good works, made possible through progressive leadership and incremental building of a community which transcends the pesantren. Equally important is the role of younger Indonesian Muslims, who are proportionally better educated and economically better off. This highlights the imperative of pesantren communities investing in human resources as much as ensuring the sound construction of their schools' physical buildings. Perhaps the new directorate general might hold some promise of progress, provided it is helmed by people who can more holistically approach the 'hardware' and 'software' of Indonesia's pesantren. As a pillar of Indonesian society, pesantren communities need more positive recognition – there are no shortcuts to nurturing a more responsive and responsible pesantren ecosystem. Both stronger penalties and better incentives are needed for this, but there are some exemplary ground-up efforts that can be catalytic references.
[Dr Irna Nurlina Binte Masron is a Fellow of the Regional Social and Cultural Studies Programme and the Indonesia Studies Programme at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.]
Source: https://fulcrum.sg/reconstructing-indonesias-pesantren-moving-beyond-concrete-matters