User:Echinacea10/Poverty in Indonesia

Poverty and Religion
Indonesia is a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, which is approximately 227 million people, more than Pakistan and India, at 204 million and 189 million people, respectively. The Indonesian government began to address the issue of poverty in 1994 due to the migration of rural residents into urban areas hoping for better opportunities in the 1970s and 1980s. This existing social inequality then made Muslim economists design a more modern way of collecting alms run by private organizations in accordance with Islamic values. In Islam, zakat is a form of giving where a muslim or business entity gives gold, silver, property and more to those who deserve, in accordance to Islamic Law. Zakat is one of the obligations of Muslims who are able to do it and have the potential to reduce poverty and social inequality. Other than private foundations who collect and distribute zakat, Indonesia has also established the National Amil Zakat Agency (BAZNAS) as an organization that collects and distributes zakat nationally in response to the large zakat potential of this country with the largest number of Muslims in the world. Nevertheless, a study by Khasandy and Badrudin in 2019 argued that BAZNAS could only manage 1% of the potential estimated zakat which was Rp217 trillion. In 1999, the Indonesian government issued a law on zakat management, which stated that zakat as a potential source of funds to support welfare for public needs to be managed professionally and responsibly by the community (private foundations) and the government. Therefore, the government has an obligation to provide protection, guidance and services to zakat givers and recipients and zakat managers. Until now, there various poverty alleviation programs have been implemented the government, among others, Family Welfare Savings (Takesra) and Family Welfare Business Credit (Kukesra) in President Soeharto era (1970-1998), Labor Intensive Program in President B.J. Habibie era (1998-1999), Health and Education Services for the Poor in President Abdurrahman Wahid era (1999-2001), Cheap Electricity for Poor Households in President Megawati Sukarnoputri era (2001-20014), Cash Transfer Program (BLT) in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono era (2004-2014) and Non-Cash Food Assistance (BPNT) in President Joko Widodo era (2014-2019).

Faith Based Organization (FBO) like BAZNAS could be a potential way in alleviating poverty in Indonesia. The existence of the FBOs play an important role in providing welfare services, but do not always have a good impact on certain community groups. Welfare service programs such as education and health are also carried out by Christians and Catholics who are religious minorities in Indonesia. However, these programs are often not carried out on a massive scale because of the reluctance to be misinterpreted as an attempt to convert non-Christians to Christianity. The lack of cooperation between the government and the FBO is also one of the factors in the overlapping program between the FBO and the government. In addition, the existence of anti-Christian tensions in Indonesia also makes it increasingly difficult to establish cooperation between interfaith FBOs in alleviating poverty.