10 Years Of Jokowi, More Than 255,000 Lands Of Certified Waqf

President Joko Widodo at the handover of land certificates in Cilacap, Central Java, Tuesday (2/1/2024). (ANTARA)

The Directorate General (Ditjen) of Islamic Community Guidance (Bimas Islam) of the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) appreciates the various progress achieved during the 10 years of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) administration. One of the important achievements is a significant increase in waqf land certification.

The Director General of Islamic Guidance at the Ministry of Religion Kamaruddin Ami, revealed that since 2016, there has been a significant increase in the issuance of waqf land certificates. As of September 2024, there were 255,989 certified waqf land parcels.

"Since 2016, there have been an average of around 20,000 waqf land certificates issued annually. Alhamdulillah, until the end of September 2024, the number of certified waqf land has reached 255,989," Kamaruddin said in his statement, Wednesday, October 2.

According to Kamaruddin, before 2016, from the 1970s to 2016, there were only 98,879 certified waqf plots of land. This figure is still far from the total amount of waqf land in Indonesia.

The acceleration of the issuance of waqf land certificates cannot be separated from the initiative of the Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, who on December 15, 2021 initiated cooperation with the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN). This collaboration is considered an important step in accelerating the process of certification of waqf land.

"This collaboration has a big impact, not only increasing the number of waqf land certificates, but also strengthening collaboration between the two ministries in maintaining waqf assets," said Kamaruddin.

The program to accelerate the certification of waqf land aims to support the development and welfare of the people. If the waqf land is not certified, the assets are vulnerable to disputes and function transitions that are not in accordance with the waqf mandate.

In addition, waqf assets have played a major role in national development. Many educational facilities, houses of worship, and government offices stand on waqf land. Data from the Directorate General of Islamic Guidance shows that waqf land is used for 1,110 Religious Affairs Offices (KUA), 1,180 state madrasas, and 35,059 private madrasas.

"The total area of waqf land used by KUA reaches 709,443 square meters, with an asset value of around Rp. 1.9 trillion," explained Kamaruddin.

In addition to land certification, improving the quality of waqf managers (nazhir) is also the main concern of the Ministry of Religion. To date, 4,117 wazhir waqf have received the Indonesian National Work Competency Standard (SKKNI) certification.

"With this certification, it is hoped that the professionalism of Nazhirs in managing waqf assets will increase, so that waqf asset management can be carried out more optimally in accordance with applicable standards," said Kamaruddin.

The Ministry of Religion believes that the success of waqf governance is highly dependent on the capacity of the nazhir human resources (HR). Therefore, the Ministry of Religion continues to facilitate certification for Nazhirs to improve their professionalism in managing waqf assets.