DPR's Commission VIII Outraged as Rape Victim of Ponpes Founder in Pati is Married Off to Senior Student

Deputy Chairman of the DPR RI’s Commission VIII, Singgih Januratmoko, has condemned the behaviour of the pondok pesantren founder and rape suspect with initials AS (52), who impregnated the victim and then married her off to a senior student. Singgih expressed outrage, noting that such incidents continue to recur. “We strongly condemn and are deeply concerned about the sexual abuse incident against female students; this keeps happening repeatedly and is like the tip of the iceberg,” said Singgih when contacted on Thursday (7/5/2026). He urged law enforcement to impose the maximum punishment on the suspect to create a deterrent effect and prevent similar occurrences. “We hope the police will promptly arrest and demand the maximum sentence to serve as a deterrent, so such incidents do not recur,” he stated. He also emphasised that his commission would push the Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) to re-register all ponpes in Indonesia and provide guidance to existing ones. “Commission VIII will soon urge Kemenag to conduct data collection and mentoring for all pesantrens. Especially with the existence of the Directorate General of Pesantrens,” he said. Victim Impregnated Then Married to Senior The victim’s lawyer for the rape case at the ponpes in Pati revealed one of the suspect AS’s (52) heinous acts. There was a victim AS who became pregnant and was then married off to a senior student. The victim’s lawyer, Ali Yusron, stated that the number of victims is estimated to exceed 50 female students. Several became pregnant. However, he did not detail the number of victims who became pregnant due to AS’s depraved actions. “I convey that when there are many victims, of course there are still victims. In this case, there are victims who became pregnant,” said Ali Yusron when met by reporters in Pati, as reported by detikJateng on Tuesday (5/5). Ali said AS then married off the pregnant victim to an adult student. “The one who became pregnant was an adult female student, as alleged by the victim’s father and the victim herself. She was married off to an older congregant,” he stated. According to Ali, the child from the victim has already been born and is also boarding at the ponpes. “The incident led to marriage, and a child was born a year later. The child was not acknowledged, there was a divorce lawsuit, and she was married off again to an older congregant,” he continued.