Out Of 200 Million Muslims, Only 4 Million Zakat Payments, Vice President Ma'ruf: Baznas Must Be Innovative And Make Breakthroughs

Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ma'ruf Amin (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin asked the National Zakat Agency (Baznas) to find new ways and initiatives to increase the number of zakat-paying people or muzaki.

With the potential population of Muslims in Indonesia, the number of zakat payers should be greater. Ma'ruf notes, the number of new muzaki is around 4 million out of a total Muslim population of 200 million

"I ask Baznas to make innovations, breakthroughs and initiatives to increase muzaki. The number of muzaki is still relatively small, around four million out of a total Muslim community of more than 200 million, "said Vice President Ma'ruf in a written statement quoted from Antara, Friday, February 5.

The distribution of zakat to people who are entitled does not experience certain obstacles. However, he continued, zakat collection itself is still very limited in Indonesia.

In distributing zakat, the Vice President continued, there are two targets, namely consumptive and empowerment.

"There are two targets in distributing zakat. First, which is consumptive in nature for people who are very needy and second is empowerment, in order to change the recipient of zakat into zakat giver, "he explained.

The Vice President assessed that an effective process of withdrawing funds is still a problem, so a solution must be sought immediately because it is part of the ecosystem for economic development and Islamic finance in Indonesia.

"I ask all of us, especially the Baznas board, to work quickly, accurately, with benefits. We have a target of increasing zakat by a significant number for more productive work results, "he said.

Meanwhile, Chairman of Baznas Noor Achmad said that zakat income has increased by 25-30 percent from 2015 to 2020. He hopes that the target of zakat acceptance in 2021 can reach 100 percent.

"Our target, if currently the National Baznas has only reached Rp. 385 billion, then God willing, in 2021 it will be close to Rp. 550 billion. Then in 2022 it could be above Rp1 trillion, "said Noor Achmad.