Waiting For The Police Work To Uncover The Muamalah Market Network In Indonesia

Karo Penmas, National Police Public Relations Division Brigadier General Rusdi Hartono (Photo: humas.polri.go.id)

JAKARTA - National Police Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareksrim) and its staff are still mapping the existence of other markets that use dinars and dirhams as means of transaction after the disclosure of Muamalah Market in Depok some time ago.

Public Relations Division of the National Police, General Rusdi Hartono, said that so far the mapping has been carried out by the regional police task force in their respective regions. Later, if they discovered other Muamalah Markets that are still operating, they (The Muamalah Market) will be followed up immediately.

"The National Police Criminal Investigation Agency continues to investigate those similar activities like the one in Depok, they will continue to be studied by the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency as well as regional units in Indonesia", said Rusdi, Friday, February 5.

However, Rusdi has not to convey the results of the temporary mapping yet.

"It is still being recorded", he said.

There are indications of a similar market to Muamalah Market, referring to the Twitter account @Pencerah__. The account owner wrote that the markets using the dinar and dirham had been going on for quite some time and it was in several locations.

"From my search results, there are several Muamalah Markets in several regions of the archipelago. Like in Yogyakarta, Bekasi, and Depok-West Java”, continued @Pencerah__.

This is evident when the Yogyakarta Special Region Industry and Trade Agency (DIY) found a market that is thought to have a network with Muamalah Market in Bantul district.

"So far, no other districts exist except the one in Bantul", said the Head of the DIY's Department of Industry and Trade, Yanto Apriyanto.

Since the Muamalah Market case, which was founded by Zaim Saidi on Jalan Raya Tanah Baru, Beji Depok, West Java, emerged, they, along with Bank Indonesia and the Yogyakarta Regional Police, have coordinated to monitor the market network in Yogyakarta.

In fact, the Bantul district government had previously closed three markets in Bantul that were suspected of being the Muamalah Market network because the payment transactions using foreign currencies in the form of dirhams and dinars.

The three of them are located in Sedayu District, east of Panembahan Senopati Bantul Hospital in Trirenggo Village, and on Jalan Parangtritis at 4.3 kilometer Saman, Bangunharjo Village, Sewon.

For market traders on Jalan Parangtritis, Bantul, who are suspected of having networked with Muamalah Market, said Yanto, they usually carry out buying and selling transactions using foreign currencies in the form of dirhams and dinars every Sunday on the Legi market. Meanwhile, on normal days, we still use the rupiah currency.

"But on normal days it is possible that they will also receive dinars and dirhams as well", he said.

According to him, the government has taken an approach by asking market managers to avoid using foreign currencies in transactions because it violates Law Number 7/2011 concerning Currencies.

"If only to empower the MSMEs, it doesn't matter, as long as they don't use foreign currency. You may develop the MSMEs, but if you use other than the rupiah currency, we will take action", he said.

Apart from the results of the National Police's work in exposing other markets, the use of dinars and dirhams as means of transactions is prohibited in Indonesia. In fact, there are rules about that.

Executive Director and Head of the Communication Department of Bank Indonesia Erwin Haryono said this was in accordance with the provisions of Law Number 7 of 2011 concerning Currency. In the regulation, it is stated that the only currency issued by the state is the rupiah so that it becomes a means of payment for the public.

Therefore, said Erwin, the national central bank urged the public to only transact using legal payment instruments. In addition, payments using rupiah are much safer because they are recognized by the state as means of payment.

"We emphasize that dinars, dirhams, or other forms other than rupiah currency are not legal payment instruments in the territory of the Republic of Indonesia", said Erwin.

As previously reported, the Directorate of Special Economic Crimes at the National Police Criminal Investigation Agency arrested Zaim Saidi who is the founder of Pasar Muamalah Depok.

The arrests took place on the evening of Tuesday, February 2. Based on the inspection, the market has been operating since 2014. However, this market only operates once every two weeks.

In addition, in this case, Zaim used the dinar and dirham as a substitute for the rupiah. In using the currency, he took a 2.5 percent profit.

In this case, Zaim Zaidi is being threatened with Article 9 of Law Number 1 of 1946 concerning criminal law and Article 33 Number 7 of 2011 concerning Currency.