PKB gathers Pesantren Kyai in Jakarta: What Is the Motive?

PKB gathers kyai from pesantren in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta. What’s the motive?

Ida Fauziyah, deputy general chairperson of the DPP PKB, said the party’s motivation is to ‘pay off a civilisational debt’ to kyai and pesantren across Indonesia.

The repayment of this ‘debt’ took place through the National Meeting of Pesantren at the Grand Mercure Hotel Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, from 18 to 19 May 2026.

‘Many people ask, isn’t it costly to bring together the kyai and so on? Isn’t the outlay too high? Ladies and gentlemen, respected as you are, in our view, that is a small price to pay,’ Ida said at the venue on Tuesday (19 May 2026).

‘By merely bringing them together, the cost is not expensive. Because, in truth, we are paying off a civilisational debt to the founders of pesantren in Indonesia,’ she continued in remarks at the close of the National Meeting of Pesantren.

She said pesantren have long played a role in educating society well before the nation’s founders articulated the aim of educating the life of the nation.

‘So, in fact, ladies and gentlemen, we are gradually paying bit by bit, responding to, paying off the civilisational debt undertaken by the kyai through the establishment of pesantren,’ she asserted.

However, she acknowledged there have been several cases of sexual violence that have smeared the name of pesantren and posed a challenge to the effort.

‘While we have not yet fully paid off the civilisational debt to the kyai, there is a stain that hinders us from continuing to pay that debt consistently,’ Ida said.

Nevertheless, Ida stressed that PKB would continue to support pesantren, regardless of whether there is any political impact on the party.

‘Because for PKB, far above political interests, is the priority of paying civilisation debt to the kyai,’ she concluded.