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View all search resultsState funding for collapsed Sidoarjo ‘pesantren’ under scrutiny
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Rubble and ruin: Personnel of a joint team remove debris on Saturday to search for students after a building collapsed at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school (Pesantren) in Buduran district, Sidoarjo, East Java. The death toll from the building’s collapse rose to 40, and the search for bodies continues. (Antara/Umarul Far)
T
he government has begun rebuilding the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school (pesantren) in Sidoarjo, East Java, even as public criticism mounts over the use of state funds to reconstruct the privately run institution, whose prayer hall collapsed in late September, killing more than 60 students.
Coordinating People’s Empowerment Minister Muhaimin Iskandar, attending the groundbreaking on Thursday on behalf of President Prabowo Subianto, hailed the ceremony as a moment of “mutual cooperation” and a commitment to strengthening Islamic boarding school infrastructure nationwide.
The Rp 125.3 billion (US$7.5 million) project will cover 4,100 square meters and is expected to be completed by July next year.
“The President wanted to be here, but due to his busy schedule he assigned me. He has a full commitment to the future of pesantren,” Muhaimin said, adding that the government had formed a cross-ministerial task force to audit the structural safety of Islamic boarding school buildings.
Preliminary findings show that only 6 percent of audited Islamic boarding schools meet structural requirements, with even fewer complying with architectural safety and evacuation standards.
But the ceremony unfolded as questions continued to swirl around why taxpayers are footing the bill for the rebuild while the criminal probe into the deadly collapse remains opaque.
Read also: An unforgivable collapse
