Deconstructing Power Relations: UIN Jakarta Expert Urges Islamic Boarding Schools to Prevent Abuse and Sexual Violence

BREBES, UIN Online News – Dr. Suwendi, a senior lecturer at the Graduate School and Chairman of the Islamic Religious Education Study Program at the Faculty of Educational Sciences (FITK) UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, asserted the critical necessity of building constructive social relationships in educational ecosystems to eliminate sexual violence and various modes of power abuse.

This stance was presented during his lecture at the Halaqah for Islamic Boarding School (Pesantren) Leaders across the Brebes Regency, convened at the Al-Fattah Islamic Boarding School in Wanasari, Brebes, on Saturday, June 13, 2026. The executive forum, attended by hundreds of traditional male and female clerical leaders (Kiai and Nyai), focused heavily on strengthening school governance to ensure a secure, healthy, and protective environment for all students.

In his comprehensive presentation, Dr. Suwendi explained that documented cases of sexual violence inside educational institutions almost universally stem from toxic, unaddressed power imbalances. Consequently, every academic and religious institution must build systemic guardrails engineered to prevent the exploitation of administrative or spiritual authority.

“Educational institutions must establish rigorous violence prevention mechanisms, provide secure and anonymous grievance channels, and deliver clear education regarding healthy professional dynamics so that every member of the campus understands their rights and structural responsibilities,” he stated.

According to Dr. Suwendi, the relationships constructed within boarding school perimeters carry a highly complex character because they simultaneously encompass spiritual, academic, social, economic, and psychological dimensions. This layered dynamic places the teacher or caregiver in a position of massive asymmetric authority relative to the students (santri), demanding strict internal controls and accountability systems.

He emphasized that boarding school communities must remain highly vigilant against various manifestations of corrupted power dynamics. These abuses include intimidation, physical and verbal assault, spiritual manipulation, economic exploitation, sexual predation, and coercion that weaponizes religious doctrines as a tool for moral justification.

However, Dr. Suwendi clarified that the classical tradition of honoring educators (ta’zhim) remains a vital, non-negotiable core of Islamic pedagogy. Yet, this cultural value must never be misinterpreted as absolute, unchecked obedience that deprives students of their right to voice complaints against actions that violate religious laws, national statutes, or ethical codes.

“Students must be nurtured to become polite, respectful individuals toward their educators, but they must simultaneously be equipped with the bravery and analytical capacity to voice absolute objections when facing actions that breach religious, statutory, or ethical boundaries,” he asserted.

Beyond the deconstruction of power imbalances, Dr. Suwendi reminded the forum of the absolute necessity to draw a rigid distinction between disciplinary measures and systematic violence within the educational process. In his analysis, discipline constitutes a proportionate, measured, and educational component of character building, whereas violence dehumanizes human dignity and possesses zero legitimacy in modern education.

“Schools must differentiate strictly between discipline and violence. Discipline builds character, whereas violence is a direct violation of baseline human rights and has no place within any educational institution,” he concluded.

The Brebes Regency Clerical Leadership Forum also featured strategic insights from the Vice Chairman of the Central Java Nahdlatul Ulama Regional Board, KH. Nur Machin Chudlori; the Head of the Brebes Regency Office of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, H. M. Aqso; and Police Inspector Ruth Yosi Natalia from the Brebes Police Department. Through this intersectoral platform, participants solidified their administrative commitment to engineering an educational terrain that is legally safe, equitable, and completely free from all forms of violence.