Abuse Claims Against a Lombok School Leader Test Indonesia's System
Ahmad Imanuddin Sumar, the leader of the Abu Barokat Islamic boarding school on Indonesia's Lombok island, has been accused of sexual assault by former students. Pupils know him as 'Abah,' meaning 'father'. BBC
The accusations were brought forward by Yusron Azzahidi and Ziadatur Rahmah, described as star pupils at the school. By the time they began discussing their school days, Yusron was at university in Jakarta and Ziadatur Rahmah was at university in Cairo, Egypt. Ziadatur Rahmah, known as Zia, told Yusron that Abah had sexually assaulted her when she was 16. She was still a child.
Yusron proposed that he, Zia, Wanda Hamidah and Mahima Eka gather corroborating evidence to support Zia's testimony. Corroborating evidence means added proof that backs up an account. As part of that effort, Yusron secretly recorded a phone call with Sumar. In the recording, Sumar said, "Cover the shame of your teacher. Everyone makes mistakes, my child".
Another former pupil, Sukma Rohana, gave a separate account to the BBC. She said Abah tried to rape her when she was 17 after asking her to join him for new year's prayers. She said she escaped after kicking him in the stomach.
Indonesia's National Commission on Violence Against Women has described sexual abuse in Islamic boarding schools as a national emergency. The term covers the country's vast pesantren network. Pesantren are religious residential schools that operate with considerable autonomy from the state education system and command deep deference in their communities.
That description follows a series of prosecutions involving educators and religious schools. An Indonesian court sentenced an Islamic school teacher to life in prison for raping 13 students, according to reporting published in February 2022. Reuters In Surabaya, the district court sentenced Ali Shodiqin, the former junior high school principal of the Surabaya State University Labschool, after conviction for sexual abuse. The Jakarta Post Central Java Police arrested the principal of a pesantren in Central Java on sexual abuse charges in a suspected serial child sexual abuse case. The Jakarta Post In Serang Regency, Banten, three teachers of a state junior high school were arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing three students, an offence that could carry 20 years in prison. The Jakarta Post
A separate, long-running case involved the Jakarta International School, now called the Jakarta Intercultural School. Canadian teacher Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teaching assistant Ferdinand Tjiong were found guilty of abusing kindergarten students. In April, the South Jakarta District Court convicted Bantleman and Tjiong of violating Indonesia's child protection law. A Jakarta court later threw out a multi-million dollar sex abuse lawsuit against the international school. Bantleman spent five years in an Indonesian prison after being convicted of sexually abusing his students.
The broader context here is institutional rather than individual. Pesantren leaders often combine religious authority, administrative control and parental trust. That concentration can deter reporting, particularly when pupils fear shaming their teachers or their families. The decision by former university students in Jakarta and Cairo to compare accounts, recruit witnesses and record a call reflects an attempt to counter that imbalance with corroboration.
Looking at what this means for regulators and school networks, the question is enforcement. Life sentences and high-profile arrests show that convictions are possible under child protection law. Whether internal reporting channels, police investigations and judicial follow-through function consistently across thousands of dispersed boarding schools will determine if the national emergency designation leads to structural change or stays as a warning.
