"It is good that the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Baznas have formed a special team to find problems that have been hindering the management of zakat," Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said in a written statement received here on Friday.
Qoumas said that Indonesia, where the majority of the population is Muslim, has great potential for zakat to strengthen the people's economy. Therefore, it is very unfortunate if the management is not optimal, he said.
He opined that one of the problems is the lack of people's understanding that zakat is obligatory for Muslims. Thus, many people still think that zakat is the same as infaq (disbursements) and sedekah (simple alms), he said.
Therefore, massive socialization is needed to be carried out jointly in order to change the wrong perception of zakat, he added.
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"If we do not do this jointly, of course, the task of Baznas will be difficult. Thus, let us reorganize the collaboration so that it can run well and create a good zakat management ecosystem," he remarked.
Head of Baznas, Noor Achmad, welcomed the minister's intention. Achmad said that so far, the collaboration between Baznas, the ministry, and regional governments has not been optimal.
"So far, there are still many problems related to the synergy and collaboration between the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Baznas, and especially regional governments. We hope that we can find the solution together," he said.
According to the Baznas head, the formation of the special team is in line with the strengthening programs launched by Baznas, namely the strengthening of institutions, management and organization, the strengthening of Human Resources, the strengthening of facilities and infrastructure, and the strengthening of networks.
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Translator: Asep Firmansyah, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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