PSI Secretary-General Offers Encouragement: Pesantren Alumnus Can Become Minister
Secretary-General of the PSI party and Minister of Forestry Raja Juli Antoni visited Pesantren Hidayatullah to encourage students to continue loving and protecting forests through concrete action via tree-planting movements.
During the gathering and joint iftar meal, the Chairman of the Hidayatullah Central Leadership Board, Ustaz Naspi Arsyad, inspired the students not to cease their studies. He cited the example of Raja Antoni, himself a former pesantren alumnus, who has now been entrusted with the position of Minister of Forestry in President Prabowo Subianto’s administration.
Raja Antoni is a graduate of Pondok Pesantren Darul Arqam Muhammadiyah in Garut, West Java. Speaking to the Hidayatullah students, he particularly emphasised environmental awareness and forest conservation as distinctive characteristics of pesantren graduates.
“I hope that all of you, the students of Pesantren Hidayatullah, will develop a strong identity that distinguishes Hidayatullah students from those of other Islamic boarding schools—namely how you engage in environmental cleanliness and love for forests by undertaking widespread tree planting that will, God willing, yield results and prove beneficial for our nature and world,” Antoni stated at Pesantren Hidayatullah on Sunday, 1 March.
Antoni stressed that Islam is a religion that deeply cherishes the environment. “Islam is the religion that most loves the environment and forests. Cleanliness is the essence of environmental care. Truly, Allah loves those who repent and those who value cleanliness,” he said.
He explained that numerous Qur’anic verses command Muslims to protect the earth and all its contents. According to him, destroying nature, including through illegal practices such as illegal mining and illegal logging, contradicts Islamic teachings.
“And you are forbidden to cause corruption on earth, whether through illegal mining or illegal logging, for truly Allah created this earth with all its perfection and balance,” he asserted.
“Corruption has appeared on earth because of people who litter indiscriminately, clear forests recklessly, show no concern for our biodiversity wealth, our seas are polluted—why? Because of human actions,” he added.
He therefore hoped that students would develop a strong identity as a generation caring for nature. He encouraged them not merely to understand these teachings theoretically but to practise them in daily life.
“One characteristic of a good Muslim is one who truly loves and protects nature,” he said.
During the event, Antoni participated in joint tree-planting and presented 1,015 productive seedlings to the Foundation Chairman. The seedlings comprised durian, mango, water guava, crystal guava, and citrus varieties.
Antoni, as Secretary-General of PSI and Minister of Forestry, affirmed that Islamic teachings possess a strong theological foundation for protecting the environment and forests from an ecotheological perspective. During Ramadan, the PSI in Semarang City carried out practical action by distributing iftar meals to the community.
The Ministry of Forestry continues to strengthen mangrove ecosystem rehabilitation in coastal areas through the Mangroves for Coastal Resilience (M4CR) programme. The Ministry distributed 833 hectares of social forestry land to four Forest Farmer Groups in the IKN area.
The Prabowo Subianto administration issued Presidential Regulation 110/2025 on Carbon Economic Value to strengthen carbon market governance and emissions control. The Ministry of Forestry, through its Directorate-General for Watershed Management and Forest Rehabilitation, held a 2026 national coordination meeting of Regional Mangrove Working Groups. The Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, together with the Government of Norway, launched a community fund service (small grant) for the fourth period valued at 7 billion rupiah to support the FOLU Net Sink 2030 target.