Coordinating Minister: Community Funds Could Boost Community Empowerment

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar stressed the potential of community funds to promote empowerment and self-reliance.

“We also discussed the potential of community funds and waqf. Waqf has the potential to become a productive force for self-reliance and community empowerment,” Muhaimin said after a coordination meeting with Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar in Jakarta on Monday.

He said the Director General of Islamic Community Guidance at the Religious Affairs Ministry had so far coordinated with philanthropic organisations and zakat collection agencies to help alleviate poverty.

“Under Presidential Instruction No. 8 of 2025, the Religious Affairs Ministry has also been tasked with alleviating poverty and extreme poverty,” Muhaimin said.

He added that regulations on the management of community funds would be amended to provide a legal framework for maximising their contribution to community empowerment.

Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar agreed.

He said some community funds had so far received little government attention, including voluntary alms, ongoing charitable donations, grants, bequests, inheritance, lost property, spoils of war, payments made in lieu of religious duties, expiations and animal sacrifices.

“If these community funds are mobilised more actively, they could make a very significant contribution to eradicating poverty. Some fundraising is already working well, such as that carried out by the National Zakat Agency (Baznas) and the Indonesian Waqf Board (BWI),” Nasaruddin said.

The collection and use of community funds from other religions would also be intensified.