Zakat (Alms-Giving) Management In Indonesia: Whose Job Should It Be?

Zakat has been the source of Islamic social welfare for centuries. How zakat is linked with Islamic social welfare will be analyzed both as religious teachings and as actual practices in Indonesia. The problems of zakat in Indonesia which will be highlighted are: a failure to reach the target level; the problem of zakat versus tax; and the problem of Acts No. 38 Year 1999. This paper will discuss the roles of Rumah Zakat Indonesia (RZI) in trying to eradicate poverty. This paper concludes that private zakat institutions have tremendous efforts to improve the welfare of Indonesia. The government, however, wants to enact legislature to ensure that private zakat institutions are under state control. This paper suggests that the government and private zakat institutions should collaborate instead of competing with each other.Keywords: Zakat, infaq, shadaqah, waqf, qurban, BAZ, LAZ, Islamic welfare.