The Pesantren Archipelago
Prabowo Subianto campaigns at a pesantren in West Java, December 2023 | Photo: Prabowo Subianto on Facebook
In an article for New Mandala, Nathanael Gratias Sumaktoyo discusses the social and political effects of pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding schools) in Indonesia.
On 29 September 2025 a multi-story musala (prayer space) collapsed at Pesantren Al-Khoziny in Sidoarjo, East Java, killing at least 61 people. A similar tragedy occurred again about a month later on 29 October, when the roof of a female student dormitory collapsed at Pesantren Syekh Abdul Qodir Jaelani in Situbondo, East Java, claiming the life of one student.
The level of anger and breadth of debate that followed—from demands for criminal investigations and critiques of pesantren governance structures to reflections on how pesantren constitute a distinct subculture within Indonesia’s educational and social systems—illustrate common perceptions about the importance of pesantren in Indonesian society. Observers have argued that pesantren occupy a key role in shaping grassroots political outcomes, whether through the political socialisation of santri (students), the broader authority of pesantren networks in local governance and policy debates, or the general political influence of kyai (religious leaders).
Without denying the significance of these findings, we nonetheless lack some basic empirical foundations for systematically measuring the social and political effects of pesantren. Claims about the importance or uniqueness of pesantren often rest on a handful of notable—and likely atypical—cases, such as Pesantren Tebuireng, which produced national leaders like Gus Dur and Ma’ruf Amin, or Pesantren Al-Mukmin in Ngruki, associated with allegations of terrorism. To more systematically understand the place, role, and effects of pesantren in Indonesian society as a whole, we first need answers to fundamental questions: how many pesantren are there? Where are they located? What are their organisational affiliations? Without such baseline information, it remains difficult to ascertain how prevalent pesantren truly are and how far-reaching their influence extends.
