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.