Ministry of Religious Affairs Disburses Rp85 Billion for Disaster Response in Aceh

The Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) has disbursed Rp85 billion for disaster response in Aceh, covering the emergency response phase through to the rehabilitation and reconstruction of religious educational facilities, houses of worship, and Religious Affairs Offices (KUA).

‘The Ministry of Religious Affairs has allocated more than Rp85 billion for handling the impact of the disaster in Aceh,’ said Dr Faisal Ali Hasyim, Expert Staff to the Religious Affairs Minister for Human Rights and Legal Affairs, in Banda Aceh on Wednesday.

Faisal explained that the ministry has been active since the emergency response phase to assist in restoring education and religious services in the affected areas. In 2025, the ministry delivered emergency assistance to 131 private madrasas and 169 state madrasas. This support included environmental clean-up for madrasas, procurement of water pumps, emergency tents, generator sets, wheelbarrows, cleaning equipment, furniture, and laptops.

Additionally, aid was provided to 18 Islamic boarding schools (pondok pesantren), 6,809 teachers and education personnel, one State Islamic Religious Higher Education Institution (PTKIN), four Private Islamic Religious Higher Education Institutions (PTKIS), and 1,124 students. ‘All of this assistance comes from the budget of the Directorate General of Islamic Education at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, with a total value of Rp46.38 billion,’ he stated.

For 2026, through the routine budget of ministry work units, assistance was provided to 24 private madrasas in the form of grant funds as well as the reconstruction of one state madrasa building that was swept away by floods. The total budget allocated reached Rp14.24 billion.

In the Islamic community guidance sector, the ministry also distributed rehabilitation assistance to 64 KUAs, provided 6,000 copies of the Quran, and supplied light rehabilitation aid to 85 mosques and prayer rooms, with a budget of Rp24.46 billion.

According to Faisal, this diverse assistance reflects the Religious Affairs Minister’s commitment and attention to the recovery of the education and religious service sectors in Aceh. ‘The direction from the Religious Affairs Minister is that all remaining work unit budgets for 2025 be allocated to assist madrasas, Islamic boarding schools, and religious higher education institutions affected by the disaster in Aceh,’ he said.

Faisal added that the post-disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction master plan includes a number of madrasa, Islamic boarding school, mosque, and prayer room projects to be handled by the Ministry of Public Works through the Aceh Strategic Infrastructure Implementation Task Force. ‘All rehabilitation and reconstruction programmes must be able to restore facilities and infrastructure to pre-disaster conditions while simultaneously improving their quality,’ Faisal Ali Hasyim concluded.