East Java 'pesantren' treats the mentally ill

By Gin Kurniawan

BOJONEGORO, East Java (JP): If you look at it from the outside, this three-floored building looks like other pondok pesantren (traditional Muslim boarding school) as indicated on its name plate. But you will hear no santri (students of the school) chanting praises to God or reciting verses from the Koran. Instead, you will see a heart-rending sight before you: dozens of men and women standing with their legs shackled by iron chains. Laughter and singing in irregular melodies can be heard from the dark underground room.

This is what you can see and hear every day at Pondok Pesantren An-Nawawi, in Sobontoro village, Bojonegoro district, East Java. This house, which is owned by KH Fachurrozi, may be called a strange one because the santri stay there not to pursue Islamic studies but rather to regain their mental health.

As most of the santri are mental patients, this pesantren is often dubbed a "mad pesantren", a nickname that KH Fachrurrozi does not deny.

In the beginning, this pesantren was just like any other schools of Islamic studies. In 1987, however, KH Fachurrozi, was determined to make his pesantren a special place for the rehabilitation of mental patients. He has done all this as the manifestation of his religious beliefs and not to seek profits.

"Honestly, I'm concerned over the fact that more and more mentally disturbed people simply live on the streets. They have lost their human dignity because they have been abandoned by their own families, who usually feel embarrassed with the presence of such people," he said.

The curing method adopted by Kyai Rozi, which is how he is intimately called, is unique as it is an alternative method mixed with mysticism. He admitted that he used both scientific and non- scientific ways based on his conviction that someone can be mentally disturbed because of the work of demons and evil spirits.

In this "mad dorm" there are a number of special rooms. There is also an underground bunker, which inspires horror and is used as an isolation room. The bunker has no light and one can hear strange sounds or sobbing and laughter from inside it. It is occupied only by acute patients, who can no longer communicate with other people and may harm other patients.

This pesantren has three bunkers, each measuring about 3 m x 3 m. The walls and the cement floor are decorated with inscriptions of verses from the Koran, known as rajjah, and are believed to have some magical power to dispel the demons or evil spirits disturbing the patients.

According to Kyai Rozi, after staying in the bunker for a few days, a patient would undergo a change for the better in his attitude. It means that the patient, previously looking wild and uncontrollable and finding it difficult to communicate with other people, would gradually be able to communicate with others. If a patient showed a change for the better, he would be moved to an ordinary room.

The next therapeutical step is to restore the patient's consciousness. At this stage, Kyai Rozzie, who is helped by a number of assistants, asks his santri to be happy together. He sings with them and provides them with a tape recorder for karaoke singing and also some cassettes containing songs popular among the patients, namely dangdut and qasidah, religious chants in Arabic. At this stage, the patients are free to sing and dance. In short, we will make them happy with music," Kyai Rozzi said.

Musical therapy is given only during the day. In the evening the patients are given spiritual therapy. The consciousness of the patients is aroused by praying together, led by the Kyai himself and some of his santri, who have been cured of their mental illnesses.

The degree of seriousness of the illness inflicted on a patient will determine the length of time of the curing process. If the metal illness of a patient is already very serious, it could take months. If it is still a minor mental disturbance, for example, it could take only a week to recover.

When a patient is declared to have been cured, he is freed from the shackles of the iron chains on his legs. To speed up the recovery process they patients are allowed to mix with the surrounding community. Their release into the community is a form of sanity test. Firstly, they are asked to buy something at a street vendor. If they can purchase the items on the shopping list they will be considered as having regained their sanity.

Ramdhoni, 29, is a former patient from Nganjuk, East Java. He has been declared cured of his mental illness although he has been at the pesantren for only two weeks. Ramdhoni, however, is not ready to return. He admitted that he was embarrassed to see his neighbors because he was previously suffering from a serious mental illness. He said that he no longer remembered what his illness was like as he had been under great stress after his girlfriend broke up with him.

"I have been told that I was stark naked when I arrived here. My body was dirty because I had not taken a bath for a long time," said Ramdhoni, still a bachelor who claims to be a dropout from a private university in Surabaya.

It is not difficult to be a santri at this mad dorm. A new santri pays an administration fee of Rp 350,000. This money is used for ruwatan, an exorcism ritual. This ruwatan is necessary because it is believed that one can have a mental illness because one's soul is not pure. Ruwatan can purify the soul and dispel ill fortune, Kyai Rozzi said.

Yet, not all patients have to pay that much. The amount of the administration fee depends on the economic condition of a patient's family. Patients from badly off families are exempt from the fee.

"We use a cross subsidy system so that the rich can help the poor," Rozzi said.

Pondok Pesantren An-Nawawi has received over 760 mental patients as santri. Currently it has 79 santri -- 20 women and 59 men. They come from various places, including Medan, Jakarta, Tasikmalaya and Central and East Java. Previously, there were some santri from Manila, the Philippines and Singapore.

Interestingly, this house has also treated political figures suffering from serious stress. While some patients are taken here because of broken hearts, many figures of political parties have been taken here because they are under serious stress as their political parties have lost in the previous general election, Kyai Rozzi said.