President Jokowi Period, Over 255,000 Waqf Lands Certified and 1,200 KUA Revitalized

Solo (Ministry of Religion) — In less than a month, the reign of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will end. During his decade at the helm of the country, President Jokowi and his team have made many advances, notably within the Islamic Community Guidance Department (Bimas Islam) of the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

Under the leadership of President Jokowi, the completion of waqf land certification has seen a very rapid increase. As of September 2024, there are 255,989 waqf-certified plots. According to Director General of Islamic Guidance at the Ministry of Religion, Kamaruddin Amin, the sharp increase in waqf land certification has occurred since 2016.

“Since 2016, every year on average, there have been around 20,000 waqf lands whose certificates have been successfully issued. Until the end of September 2024, thank God, there have been 255,989 waqf lands certified,” explained Kamaruddin Amin during a meeting on the sidelines of the International Symposium on Innovative Mosques (ISIM) in Solo, Wednesday (02/10/2024).

“In fact, between the 1970s and 2016, the number of waqf land certifications reached only 98,879 plots. This is still small compared to the area of ​​existing waqf land,” he continued.

This effort to accelerate the issuance of waqf land certificates, Kamaruddin Amin said, cannot be separated from the role of Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas who initiated collaboration with the Ministry of Agrarian Affairs and Land Planning- National Land Agency (ATR/BPN). on December 15, 2021. This collaboration has had a significant impact, not only in increasing the number of waqf certificates issued, but also in increasing cooperation between the two ministries in safeguarding waqf assets.

“The accelerated waqf land certification program with the Ministry of ATR/BPN aims to support the development and well-being of the people,” Kamaruddin said.

“If waqf lands have not been certified, they will be vulnerable to conflicts and changes in function that are not consistent with the intentions of the wakif,” he added.

According to Kamaruddin, waqf assets have been instrumental in Indonesia's development. This is marked by the establishment of educational institutions, places of worship and government offices on waqf lands. The Directorate General of Islamic Community Guidance noted that waqf land was used for, among others, 1,110 religious affairs offices (KUAs), 1,180 state madrasahs and 35,059 private madrasahs.

“The total area of ​​waqf land used by KUA reaches 709,443 square meters, with an asset value reaching Rp. 1.9 trillion,” explained Kamaruddin Amin.

Thousands Nazir Approved

In addition to certification, improving the quality of waqf Nazirs (managers) is also a concern of the Ministry of Religion. The effort made is the Nazir certification. To date, as many as 4,117 waqf nazhir have obtained Indonesian National Professional Competence Standards (SKKNI) certification. This certification is expected to increase the professionalism of Nazirs in managing waqf assets. Thus, waqf asset management can be carried out more optimally and in accordance with applicable standards.

The success of waqf governance also depends on the human resource capacity of our nazhir. “That is why we are facilitating the participation of these Nazirs in the certification,” said Kamaruddin Amin.

1.206 DO Revitalized

Not only is the waqf the Office of Religious Affairs (KUA), but it also attracts the attention of the Ministry of Religion. In fact, under the leadership of Gus Men Yaqut, the revitalization of KUA has become one of the priority programs. This institution, the spokesperson for the religious services of the Ministry of Worship, receives all the attention necessary to be able to progress in class.

The KUA revitalization has been rolling out since 2021. At that time, this program only targeted 106 KUA revitalizations. Over the next three years, there will be 500 KUA revitalized in 2022, 500 KUA revitalized in 2023 and 100 KUA in 2024.

Director General of Islamic Community Orientation Kamaruddin Amin explained that three main elements are of concern in the revitalization of KUA, namely: facilities and infrastructure (infrastructure), human resources and digital service systems .

Concerning infrastructure, one of the areas of revitalization of KUA is the quality of the hall for weddings and Hajj rituals. The KUA building has been beautifully constructed with a standardized reception, friendly to people with disabilities and vulnerable groups. From 2015 to 2024, 1,604 KUA buildings were constructed through the SBSN financing program, Kamaruddin explained.

Meanwhile, Kamaruddin continued, improving the quality of human resources in KUA has been carried out with various packages ability building. The Ministry of Religion organized Bimtek for Marriage Guidance Facilitators (Bimwin), which has so far produced more than 3,700 facilitators.

Technical guidance for service and front desk agents is also provided to 1206 KUA agents. In addition, the Ministry of Religion also trains conflict resolution actors by training competent conflict resolution advisors and leaders. First of all answering machine regarding the potential for social conflict with a religious dimension. The Ministry of Religion also provides technical advice Natural Peer Educator for the head of KUA.

Bimas Islam hosted a meeting of KUA leaders across generations from the Revitalization Class of 2021 to 2024 last June. The meeting aimed to strengthen the human resource capacity of KUA in implementing the program Natural Peer Educator (peer educators), he said.

For digital transformation, the Ministry of Religion has digitized marriage registration via the SIMKAH (Marriage Management Information System) platform which meets the ISO 27001: 2013 standard. This system provides real-time data to accelerate and improve the accuracy of service.

Kamaruddin said the KUA revitalization program was an effort by the Ministry of Religion to make KUA an excellent, credible and moderate service center to improve the quality of religious communities. “The revitalization of KUA is a priority program, because almost all the services of the Ministry of Religious Affairs are in the KUA district,” Kamaruddin said.

Referring to Regulation of the Minister of Religion (PMA) No. 34 of 2016, the function of the KUA is to provide services, supervise, register and declare marriages and reconciliations. Apart from this, the KUA is also responsible for compiling statistics on the services and guidance of the Islamic community, as well as managing the documentation and management information systems of the KUA.

As well as various other tasks related to family, mosques, calculation of rukyat, Islamic religion, zakat and waqf. “This role is expected to strengthen the function of KUA in providing comprehensive religious services to the community,” he explained.

Kamaruddin revealed that the KUA 2023 Service Satisfaction Index reached a score of 83.26 points, including in the high category. Furthermore, the General Directorate for the Guidance of the Islamic Community received a total compliance score of 92.70 from the Ombudsman. Kamaruddin said that this value is included in the highest quality opinion taking into account the competence aspects of those responsible for implementing KUA governance, KUA infrastructure, KUA service standards, Community Satisfaction and Complaints Index related to KUA.

A survey by the Research and Development and Education and Training Agency of the Ministry of Religion found that the KUA service satisfaction index reached a score of 83.26 points. “This shows the high level of public satisfaction with KUA services nationwide,” he stressed.