Minister Yandri Invites Baznas to Collaborate in Realising Zakat Villages

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Minister for Villages and Underdeveloped Regions (Mendes PDT), Yandri Susanto, has invited the National Zakat Collection Agency (Baznas) to collaborate in realising the zakat village programme to improve community welfare at the village level.

“Well, I want to foster that awareness: if you receive money from Allah SWT, you should pay your zakat mal. Don’t just enjoy the results yourself. Actually, that can be used to build villages, enhance human resources, provide scholarships for education, and so on,” he said.

He conveyed this during a meeting with Baznas Chairman Sodik Mudjahid and his team at the Ministry of Villages and Underdeveloped Regions (Kemendes PDT) office in Jakarta on Monday.

Minister Yandri stated that Kemendes PDT and Baznas essentially share the task of promoting rural communities’ awareness of their obligation to pay zakat.

“Therefore, the zakat literacy campaign must be simple, reasonable, easy to understand, and appealing to them,” he said.

Furthermore, he explained that various government rural economic programmes currently being implemented, such as layer chicken farming, catfish, tilapia, and broiler chicken farming, have potential to be integrated with the zakat programme.

According to him, village business actors, whether individuals or groups, need to be encouraged to fulfil their zakat mal from the income they earn.

Meanwhile, Baznas Chairman Sodik reaffirmed his agency’s commitment to strengthening collaboration with Kemendes PDT in optimising zakat potential in villages.

He mentioned four steps that will be taken: increasing zakat collection, strengthening collaboration, expanding the formation of Zakat Management Units (UPZ) to the village level, and safeguarding the trust in zakat management.

“There are four things we will do: increase the potential for zakat collection, collaboration, UPZ must reach the villages, and safeguard that zakat trust,” said Sodik.