Al-Zaytun boarding school enjoys impressive growth

Al-Zaytun boarding school enjoys impressive growth

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Al-Zaytun is a relatively new but hugely wealthy Islamic boarding
school or pesantren located in the remote village of Mekar Jaya
in Haurgeulis subdistrict, Indramayu regency, West Java. It's
about 32 kilometers from the Indramayu-Jakarta highway.

Its vast and quick growth has impressed many people,
particularly those involved in running similar Islamic boarding
schools across the country.

Several graduates of many other pesantren have said it was an
incredibly stunning project carried out by Al-Zaytun.

Despite the monetary crisis first to batter Indonesia in July
1997, Al-Zaytun continued the construction extensively with a
total of at least 50,000 square meters of buildings established
annually.

The construction of its first buildings started in 1996.

Al-Zaytun (olive tree in Arabic) was established in 1993 as
Indonesian Pesantren Foundation (YPI) on 1,200 hectares of
originally swamp land that now have been converted into fertile
plots. The scale is equal to around five times of the total area
of Jakarta's 279-hectare Bung Karno sports complex.

However, studies began on July 1, 1999 at the junior high
school. One month later, the then president, B.J. Habibie
inaugurated the pesantren.

Only in three years after its opening, Al-Zaytun has managed
to recruit more than 5,300 female and male students -- from
across Indonesia and neighboring countries. In addition, it is
also home to more than 500 teachers and 3,000 workers, mostly
local villagers.

Only 200 hectares of the land is used to house the Al-Zaytun's
education complex and the remaining 1,000 hectares for farmland
and agricultural business aimed at supporting the finance of Al-
Zaytun.

It is still expanding by buying more plots still cultivated by
locals who want to sell their land.

The pesantren is far larger than another modern Islamic
boarding school called Gontor in the East Java town of Ponorogo,
which was established in 1926, has only less than 250 hectares of
land and is home to more than 11,500 students accommodated on its
six campuses.

Al-Zaytun is not a typical pesantren in Indonesia, which
numbers more than 300,000 throughout the country. It is vast,
modern and operated mechanically, making it the largest Islamic
school in the country and probably in Southeast Asia.

It has a five-story hotel comprising of 150 rooms, which is
designed on commercial basis for parents, guests and other
visitors who prefer to check in. The profits generated from the
business are used to help finance Al-Zaytun. The large hotel also
has seminar and conference facilities, and a restaurant.

Also available in the complex are a minimarket, a large mosque
to accommodate around 8,000 people, and sports facilities
including a soccer stadium. In an addition to this, the pesantren
is drawing a plan to build a new, large sports stadium to match
international standards.

Al-Zaytun is also currently completing the construction of a
giant six-story mosque on 6.5 hectare-land to be equipped with a
130-meter high minaret that will be higher than the country's
only 45-meter high National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta.

Should the new mosque, called Rahmatan Lil Alamin (blessing
for universe) be completely built by mid 2003, it will be larger
than the nation's historic five-story Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta,
or even the biggest in Southeast Asia.

All major buildings were constructed with steel the pesantren
imported from Poland. All the projects, including design and
architectural works, did not involve foreign or domestic
developers, but were undertaken by the pesantren. It even has its
own heavy and sophisticated construction equipment.

Al-Zaytun is almost self-sufficient in fulfilling its daily
needs, with its own herds of dairy and beef cattle along with
goats, sheep, chicken, fish farming, pepper and rice fields.

It is equipped with a rice huller plant, a furniture factory,
a steel processing plant and printing equipment. Large
plantations of high-quality teak, which is used to make furniture
for offices and classrooms, are also found there.

Al-Zaytun is now moving to expand its presence in at least 342
cities throughout the country, where hundreds of hectares of land
have been prepared. The expansion has started in Subang in West
Java, and Banten.

The subjects taught in Al-Zaytun correspond to those outlined
in the national education curricula by the Ministry of National
Education and the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Human rights, constitutional law and journalism are among the
subjects for students of the pesantren's junior high school,
which also include basic Islamic teachings, such as Qur'anic
reading and memorization as well as Islamic history.

The Pancasila state ideology, which becomes the standard
subject in most of the country's schools, is not on offer in the
pesantren.

Arabic and English are spoken at Al-Zaytun, although they are
yet compulsory for its students. The pesantren management said
other foreign languages, including Chinese, will also be taught
there.