PKB's Ulama Ijtima Highlights Four Key Points: Pesantren Stigma and Human Resource Governance

The National Awakening Party (PKB) held an Indonesian Ulama Ijtima ahead of the peak celebration of PKB’s 28th anniversary. The event resulted in four main points of focus. “There are four main and strategic issues we discussed earlier. First, regarding the dynamics of national, state, and social life,” said Secretary of the PKB Central Executive Board’s Syura Council, Saifullah Ma’shum, after the event at the Fairmont Hotel, Jakarta, on Thursday (23/7/2026). Among the four points, one highlighted was the condition of pesantren, which have recently often received a bad stigma from the public. Additionally, the allocation of education budgets for pesantren was highlighted as being far less than that for general schools. “The funds for education are not entirely and not fairly distributed to religious education and pesantren. Most of it goes to general education under the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of National Education, and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education. The allocation for the Ministry of Religious Affairs is very minimal,” he stated. Another point concerned the Ijtima Ulama’s support for the government’s economic policies, which were deemed to be in accordance with the constitution to empower the community. However, the issue of human resource readiness in Indonesia is still considered a major challenge. “In its implementation, there are still problems, especially in governance or the preparation and readiness of human resources, which have not been truly prepared, resulting in deviations, distortions, and mismatches with what the president planned here and there,” he said. “Therefore, the Ijtima conveys that it must be evaluated and must accept control at all times, because this is a large programme, a programme that allocates a large budget and has a huge socio-economic effect. Therefore, the widest possible space must be opened for public participation, evaluation, monitoring, and supervision,” he added. On the same occasion, Deputy Secretary of the PKB Syura Council, Maman Imanulhaq, mentioned the existence of a forum called the People’s Ulama Silaturahmi Assembly (Masura) initiated by PKB. Masura functions as a platform for religious leaders to convey various issues. “So village kiais can later tell any stories about what is happening, then what PKB is doing, what the obstacles are, and so on, including the decisions of this Ijtima,” said Maman.