Hajj Fund Should Be Put to Good Use: Jokowi
Jakarta. President Joko Widodo revealed on Monday that the government was mulling over plans to use more than Rp 50 trillion ($3.9 billion) of hajj funds to finance the country’s infrastructure development projects.
Instead of sitting idle as bank deposits, the money could be put to good use to finance the construction of sea ports, roads, airports and oil palm plantations, Joko suggested.
“If we invest, say, 90 percent of the [hajj] funds on infrastructure, surely this would also be more profitable than storing the funds in banks,” Joko said as he received the Religious Affairs Ministry’s director general for the hajj, Abdul Jamil, at the Presidential Palace in Bogor on Monday.
A portion of the funds, the president added, could also be used to support state-owned enterprises.
“I think there is huge potential here. We may continue storing the money in bank deposits where, yes, it would remain safe. But if we use them to build toll roads and ports, [Indonesia] can only benefit from that,” Joko said.
“Any plans to invest the funds, however, would require in-depth research and detailed calculations,” he added.
The Religious Affairs Ministry, the sole manager of hajj funds in the country, last year said the fund had swelled to a record Rp 67 trillion. The fund comprises payments made by Indonesians intending to embark on the hajj, the once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimage to Mecca that able-bodied Muslims who can afford to must undertake.
Saudi authorities give Indonesia a quota of around 200,000 hajj pilgrims annually. The number of applicants, however, far exceed that number, forcing some to wait up to 18 years before finally leaving for the kingdom.
Prospective pilgrims may either pay for their entire trip in advance or make monthly installments.
Approximately half of the total hajj funds collected last year were used to make shariah bond investments, while the remaining was deposited in various banks, according to Abdul’s predecessor, Anggito Abimanyu.
In the past, profits generated from sukuk-related investments and any leftover deposits were commonly used to improve hajj facilities, including medical services before and during the pilgrimage, and refurbishing hajj dormitories in Mecca and those located at several major Indonesian airports.
A portion of the funds also goes to support a variety of ministry outreach programs, such as the development of Islamic schools.
However, the huge amount of money sitting in banks and collecting interest has made the hajj fund a prime target for mismanagement and corruption.
Over the years, dozens of ministry officials have been caught misusing the money deposited by would-be pilgrims.
They include former minister Said Agil Husin Al Munawar, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 2006, and a former director general of the hajj, Taufik Kamil, who was sentenced to four years behind bars.
In May last year, then-minister Suryadharma Ali was declared a suspect for misusing hajj funds.
In addition to changes in store for the future management of hajj deposits, Joko said the government was also seeking to optimize the use of other idle funds supervised by the state, including those administered by state-run Taspen, a pension fund for retired civil servants, and the Social Insurance Organizing Body, or BPJS.
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