Foreign News
Mass sex abuse allegations force closure of boarding school in Indonesia
Hundreds of people descended on a girls’ boarding school in the Indonesian village of Tlogosari, Central Java on 2 May, shouting chants and waving banners.
“Women are not sexual objects” read one. Another said, simply, “The Predator”.
The mob was there to accost and hurl insults at 58-year-old Kiai Ashari, the caretaker of the Ndholo Kusumo Islamic boarding school, as he was escorted away by police. He is suspected of sexually abusing dozens of female students – most of them orphans from poor families – over the course of several years.
The case has provoked outrage in Indonesia, and highlights a systemic issue of sexual abuse in Islamic boarding schools across the country.
While multiple witnesses who spoke out against Ashari have since withdrawn their testimonies, one victim has now filed an official complaint – and suggested that as many as 50 others fell prey to the caretaker’s sexual violence.
“The number of victims is 30 to 50 children based on the victim’s statement,” the victim’s attorney, Ali Yusron, told the BBC. “I handled one victim, but the legal process tells of many victims.
“One person reveals everything.”
Police said on 4 May that Ashari, who investigators named as a suspect on 28 April, had not yet been detained – but insisted that he would not flee. He proved them wrong later that day, fleeing Pati for the cities of Bogor, Jakarta and Solo before being caught by police on the night of 6 May at a mosque in Wonogiri, Central Java.
Pati police chief Jaka Wahyudi told reporters on 7 May that the victim was allegedly abused 10 times at different locations between February 2020 and January 2024.
The suspect is accused of entering the victim’s room under the pretext of asking for a massage, before telling the victim to remove their clothing and committing indecent acts including “touching, squeezing and kissing”.
After the incident occurred a tenth time the victim told their father, and a police report was filed.
This is not the first time Ashari has faced allegations of sexual abuse against his students. The caretaker, who also founded the Ndholo Kusumo school, is thought to have a history of abuse dating back to 2022.
“The victims are female students, mostly MTs students,” Ali says. “Three years in a row, they change at will.”
In 2024, Pati Police’s Women and Children’s Services Unit (PPA) received reports of alleged sexual crimes targeting minors in their teens.
Some of those charges were later dropped.
Pati police chief Jaka told the BBC that authorities investigated the 2024 case and interviewed witnesses, but ran into “obstacles along the way” – including four victims who withdrew their statements.
“The victim and the victim’s parents expressed their intention to resolve the matter amicably,” he explained.
“Therefore, several witnesses withdrew their testimony at the time, citing concerns about their children’s future.”
The case against Ashari resurfaced last month when, after two years, police finally named him as a suspect.
Authorities are still investigating the number of victims, Jaka said. But the allegations also point to a systemic trend of abuse in Indonesia’s Islamic boarding schools.
Ashari is said to have instilled misleading doctrines in his female students, several of whom said he claimed to be a saint with powers beyond human comprehension and, in other cases, the descendant of a prophet who should be honoured.
Imam Nahe’i, a member of the PBNU Anti-Sexual Violence Unit (SAKA) who is also a former commissioner of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, tells the BBC that cases of sexual violence in Islamic boarding schools usually follow a similar pattern.
Caretakers in these schools often teach things that “smell of shamanism or mysticism”, as opposed to “anything rational”, he says.
“Then there are also those who claim to be guardians,” he adds. “If you don’t obey them, you’ll go to hell.”
More explicitly, Imam Nahe’i says Islamic boarding schools often normalise, tolerate, and even allow actions such as touching, hugging and kissing students – which, he says, could lead to a tolerance of sexual violence.
He cites a case at a school in Sumenep, which “happened quite a long time ago, since 2017, until it was finally uncovered recently”.
“This means that all this time there has been some tolerance from those around them.”
Imam Nahe’i, who teaches at a large Islamic boarding school, says that when he asked he found his fellow teachers “didn’t understand what sexual violence was”.
“They said sexual violence is defined as penetration,” he explains. “If it hasn’t reached that point, it’s not considered sexual violence – it’s just a kind of sin.”
A broader issue relates to a lack of government supervision.
While Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs issued legislation in 2022 concerning the handling of sexual violence in educational contexts, Islamic boarding schools – which are typically founded by individuals rather than government institutions – are harder to regulate and often slip through the cracks.
This makes it difficult to report and protect against sexual violence in Islamic boarding schools. As Imam Nahe’i puts it, the legislation “cannot control” them.
“In order for Islamic boarding schools to have clear regulations and a task force, I think the Ministry of Religion really needs to push for this,” he says.
“In addition, supervision from the Ministry of Religion and the community regarding these newly emerging Islamic boarding schools must be stricter.”
The Ndholo Kusumo boarding school reportedly had a permit since 2021, and was home to at least 252 students.
In the wake of these latest allegations, the school has been closed down and students have been sent home.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs has revoked the school’s license permanently, and said that students’ educations would continue through online learning options or transfers to other institutions – especially for orphaned students.
The Director of Islamic Boarding Schools at the Ministry of Religion, Basnang Said, explained that the closure of the boarding school was to ensure that authorities could prioritise the investigation while maintaining order and protecting children.
New student admissions will be suspended until all issues are resolved and there is certainty that the childcare system, child protection, and institutional governance meet standards.
If Ndholo Kusumo is found to not meet those standards, it will be permanently deactivated.
The Ministry of Religion has further recommended that educators or caretakers at Islamic boarding schools who are suspected of sexually abusing students should be dismissed and kicked out of their residences on the Islamic boarding school grounds.
Islamic boarding schools across Indonesia are being asked to appoint new teaching staff with the capacity, moral integrity, and readiness to fully care for students 24 hours a day.
[BBC]
Hours after US President Donald Trump rejected a diplomatic solution put forward by Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, explosions were heard in the waterway, according to Iranian media.
Reports of blasts near southern Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz suggested that multiple antiship missiles and drones were fired at vessels transiting the waterway against Tehran’s wishes.
While Iranian authorities did not confirm any attacks in the Strait of Hormuz that day, shipping continues to be attacked in the waters, including an Indian cargo ship last week which killed a sailor.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) maintains that the strait is closed to any ship that does not coordinate with Iranian authorities. On Sunday afternoon, it released video of what it said was a second US underwater drone seizd this month.
Tehran has issued instructions to shipping companies transiting the Strait of Hormuz to use a temporary route approved by Iranian authorities and pay relevant fees. But it has also said the strait will not fully reopen until the US blockade on Iranian ports ends.
Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority announced on Saturday that it would blacklist any shipping charterer company which orders crews to use routes it considers to be unauthorised.
It also published what it described as an apology from an unnamed shipowner blaming commercial pressure from its charterer for trying to pass through the strait.
(Aljazeera
At least 41 people have died, and 49 others have been rescued, after a boat capsized on Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Norris Mulongoyi, the provincial transport minister for DRC’s Tanganyika province, told The Associated Press news agency that search operations were under way to locate the remaining passengers
The boat was reportedly carrying about 100 people and cargo when it capsized near the Congolese village of Mapera.
The vessel was travelling from the port of Kigoma in Tanzania to the city of Kalemie in DRC when it sank on Thursday.
A survivor identified as Annie Moyoni told Radio Okapi, a UN-backed Congolese broadcaster, that passengers were awakened at about 1am and found the boat tilting to one side.
It is unclear what caused the vessel to capsize, but hundreds of people have been killed in boat disasters in the DRC in recent years, according to the AP. Vessels are often overloaded and lack life jackets.
For many in the DRC, travelling by boat is the cheapest and most affordable way to get around. The country is one of the poorest in the world and lacks sufficient infrastructure for its more than 100 million people.
The sinking was the second loss of a Congolese vessel on the Kigoma-Kalemie route in less than a month.
On August 28, the Congolese vessel MV Pacifique caught fire and exploded at the port of Kigoma while loading fuel, according to Radio Okapi.
Six crew members were killed, and a seventh was reported missing, Radio Okapi said, citing port authorities. The vessel operated between Kigoma and Kalemie and was used to transport fuel.
At least 20 people also died when a wooden boat carrying students returning from state exams sank in central DRC in July.
(Aljazeera)
United States President Donald Trump has welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping as he arrived in the US for a three-day trip focused on issues such as security, trade and technology.
Trump took the rare step of meeting the Chinese leader in person at Joint Base Andrews in the state of Maryland on Wednesday, the first president to do so in recent memory.
The US president and First Lady Melania Trump greeted Xi and his wife on the tarmac during a welcoming ceremony, where a red carpet was rolled out and the couples exchanged handshakes. Trump and Xi then walked side by side, flanked by US soldiers, before standing for a gunfire salute and the US national anthem
The in-person greeting is a sign of the significance that Washington ascribes to its relationship with Beijing, whose meteoric economic rise over the last several decades has transformed it into a global superpower capable of rivalling the United States.
Despite tense relations that worsened after the Trump administration placed high tariffs on Chinese goods – a move that was met with retaliatory measures from Beijing – Trump has expressed personal affinity for Xi and his desire for strong ties with China.
The Chinese president’s trip to the US will include a state dinner, attended by leaders of the country’s powerful tech industry, a military ceremony at the White House, and a visit to the National Archives, home to documents of historical and cultural significance such as the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence
But both countries remain wary of the other as they compete for political and economic influence. The trip is likely to include discussion of issues such as the US war on Iran, trade, technology, rare-earth minerals and US ties to Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as part of its territory
(Aljazeera)
Rain threat looms over lopsided India vs Afghanistan quarter-final
Out, not-out, out: England secure bizarre run-out in Oval victory
Strait of Hormuz tensions linger as Iran and US move further from a deal
Showers will occur in the Western, Eastern, Uva and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Galle, Matara, Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Polonnaruwa and Mullativu districts
Sajith rejects Jt. Opp. protest sabotage claim; SJB TU chief demands remedial action
Police remove Thileepan statue in Jaffna
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
Sunday Island 27 December – Headlines
#SundayIsland 17th December – Headlines
Sunday Island – 28th March
Sunday Island Headlines – 21 March
Sunday Island – 21st February – Headlines
-
News5 days agoMastermind Naufer Moulavi among 15 found guilty
-
Midweek Review5 days agoThileepan’s fast unto death: An authentic narrative that many missed
-
News6 days agoProtest against setting up of cement factory in highly populated area near BIA
-
Editorial6 days agoTrouble beginning in earnest
-
Latest News4 days agoShowers above 100 mm are likely at some places in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central and North-western provinces and in Galle and Matara Districts
-
Editorial5 days ago
Big Bad Bills
-
News6 days agoPolice may seek clarification from US
-
News6 days agoGovt. confident of 2/3 majority despite NPP split speculation