The Village Head’s Sanitation Concern

Mukh Ma\'ruf, Head of Pucungharjo Village, Muntilan, Magelang Regency, is one of the village leaders in Indonesia who always thinks about the appropriateness of the latrine for his residents.

KOMPAS/BUDI SUWARNA

Mukh Ma\'ruf

“Empower the poor!” The message conveyed by the leader of a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) where Mukh Ma’ruf was educated is deeply instilled in him. He has tried to realize the message since he was elected head of Pucungrejo village, Muntilan, Central Java, in 2007. He gives thoughts on the housing conditions, necessities, clean water supply and toilets of residents.

Amid the heat on Monday (22/3/2021), Mukh Ma’ruf along with several village administrators inspected sanitation facilities in Growong hamlet, Pucungrejo. There is a waste water processing installation (IPAL) and colorfully painted public bath, wash place and toilet facilities (MCK) built in 2018. The communal facilities are fairly well maintained.

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However, Ma’ruf is not readily satisfied. It’s because in Pucungrejo, about 100 of its 2,800 families do not yet have toilets in their homes. One of them is the family of Trimulyani in Kenatan hamlet, which was visited by Ma’ruf and his staff that noon. Trimulyani’s house has no toilet and bathroom.

The family has to walk some 50 meters to the nearest MCK to take a bath or empty the bowels. If the urge for bowel movement came at midnight, said Trimulyani, she chose to go out the next morning.

In Pucungrejo, about 100 of its 2,800 families do not yet have toilets in their homes.

Besides, Ma’ruf also still found many residents’ toilets discarding their waste through PVC pipes into gutters or rivers. “They call it drop and plunge,” said Ma’ruf.

Over the last few years, Ma’ruf and village personnel have been improving sanitation in Pucungrejo. He is aware that poor sanitation will have an extensive impact on public health. In 2010, he decided to build an IPAL in his village. But some residents rejected the initiative, for the reason that it would pollute wells within a distance of 50 meters. “The rejection was quite strong. There was even a demo and media coverage,” related Ma’ruf.

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KOMPAS/BUDI SUWARNA

Mukh Ma\'ruf

He tried to convince residents that the IPAL was to be built according to standards by casting to make it water-resistant so that local wells would not be contaminated. “When it was ready and brought benefits to locals, the residents previously protesting even wanted another IPAL,” he recalled.

So far, four installations have been built in Pucungrejo. An IPAL has a capacity of supplying dozens of families. Ma’ruf further carried out a toilet project by cooperating with USAID IUWASH PLUS, which supports the promotion of drinking water access, sanitation service and hygienic behavior for poor people and vulnerable groups in urban areas.

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With the guidance of IUWASH PLUS, Ma’ruf more intensively campaigned for a decent toilet movement. He utilized all communication spaces like religious sessions, neighborhood/community unit meetings and other gatherings to persuade residents to cease dumping household waste into rivers.

Ma’ruf and IUWASH PLUS later collaborated with the Humanitarian Fund Foundation of Kompas to build 40 decent toilets, made up of closed toilets and water-resistant septic tanks. The program starting on Tuesday (23/3) is undertaken by the system of revolving funds derived from Kompas readers’ donations. Every family gets Rp3 million aid to build a toilet and needs only to repay Rp1.5 million by installments. The repayments are to be used for the same purpose by other families. “The first phase involves 40 families. After revolving, the funds can be used for 100 families,” added Ma’ruf.

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He was also thinking of houses for the poor, searching for funds to renovate residents’ less decent homes. He built 50 houses on village land to be rented by poor residents still having no homes of their own. Each tenant only has to pay Rp250,000 per month.

KOMPAS/BUDI SUWARNA

One of four communal wastewater treatment plants (IPAL) in Pucungrejo Village, Muntilan, Magelang Regency, Central Java. The communal IPAL was built so that residents do not dump toilet waste into the river.

Pesantren

Ma’ruf comes from a modest family. His father was only a petty worker in a pesantren, occasionally a part-time market seller. “Our family is practically poor. The family’s economy began to improve after my father opened a timber business,” said Ma’ruf, who once studied at the pesantren in Yogyakarta and Jombang.

While studying, he became boarder chairman, in charge of among others coordinating bathroom and ditch cleaning work. Pesantren toilets, continued Ma’ruf, were mostly not standardized. Their number was always less proportional to the total of santri (students). “So, I’ve had some experience in toilet handling,” he said.

The poverty and toilet issues have thus been ingrained in Ma’ruf. Moreover, the pesantren leader in Jombang gave the message to students that they should play a role in empowering the poor after their graduation.

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When Ma’ruf graduated and returned to Pucungrejo in 2000, he found many poor families and children without schooling. Then he raised funds to help them. Up to the present, the school aid funds for poor families have remained provided. Hundreds of recipients have been benefited.

I want my community to be 100 percent served in sanitation betterment, all children to go to school and no residents to live in woven-bamboo houses

In 2007, he was elected head of Pucungrejo village. Until his third term of office, his working program was focused on resolving the problems of poverty, education, home improvement and sanitation service. “I want my community to be 100 percent served in sanitation betterment, all children to go to school and no residents to live in woven-bamboo houses,” said Ma’ruf. Who is also chairman of the Ngesti Projo Village Heads Association, Magelang regency.

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Where do the funds for the whole program come from? “The funds have many sources. There are the State Budget, Regional Budget, Village Fund and Regionally Generated Revenue. There are also the governor’s aid, councilors’ aspirational aid and private assistance. It’s a matter of how we communicate with them (fund holders),” he replied.

Therefore, Mar’uf is surprised if any village can’t implement its program only because there’s no village fund. “Without the village fund it can be carried out. We can seek other sources. The important thing is the program should be clearly designed for public welfare.”

Mukh Ma’ruf

Born: Magelang, 19 March 1971

Education:

- First degree, Civil Engineering, Darul Ulum University, Jombang

- Sunan Pandan Aran Islamic Boarding School, Yogyakarta

- Bahrul Ulum Islamic Boarding School, Tambak Beras, Jombang

This article was translated by Aris Prawira.