BWI Aims for Transformation into 'Sovereign Waqf Asset Manager'

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI) is targeting a fundamental institutional transformation to become a Sovereign Waqf Asset Manager, an independent body with authority comparable to Danantara.

BWI Chairman Kamaruddin Amin stated during a hearing with House Commission VIII in Jakarta on Monday that this transformation is the institution’s grand vision to capitalise on the nation’s enormous, yet underutilised, waqf asset potential.

“Our aspiration is to make BWI a Sovereign Waqf Asset Manager specifically for waqf, with a role similar to Danantara,” Kamaruddin Amin told the leadership and members of Commission VIII.

He explained that realising this vision would rely on three priority programmes designed to mobilise strategic assets at both national and international levels.

However, Kamaruddin stressed that this significant leap can only be legally realised with regulatory support through a revision of Law Number 41 of 2004 concerning Waqf.

This step is considered crucial given the fantastic total value of waqf assets in Indonesia, which BWI’s internal assessment places at Rp1,478 trillion, while Bank Indonesia’s calculations put the figure at up to Rp2,000 trillion.

Furthermore, the potential absorption for the cash waqf sector alone is recorded at Rp181 trillion, although actual real-time collection has only reached Rp4.7 trillion to date.