Abstract
The introduction of Law No. 38/1999 on Zakat Administration by the Habibie government marked the very first time a comprehensive bill regulating zakat was inserted in the statute book of Indonesia. The current chapter critically reviews the socio-political implications of post-New Order legal landscape, paying particular attention to a tension inherent in the zakat movement between proponents of deep state involvement and direct enforcement of the divine injunction to zakat, and those activists propagating the alleviation of poverty through the cultivation of philanthropic ethos and voluntarism amongst the country’s economically better-off Muslims. Such tension came to a head in the 2010s when, after several years of deliberation, a new zakat law was passed in the House of People’s Representatives (Law No. 23/2011), and culminated in a constitutional challenge launched by several civil society–based zakat management bodies as the latter felt they were put at a significant disadvantage by the new legal framework. The chapter aims to assess such claims and counterclaims in view of Derrida’s work: in his magisterial ‘Force of Law’ (1990), and subsequently in his ‘Specters of Marx’(1994), Derrida performs a most crucial uncoupling of justice from its entanglements with law that is of immediate importance.
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Notes
- 1.
The Department of Religion’s ‘Technical Guidance Regarding Zakat Administration’ No. D291/2000 regulates the rates for calculation of the amounts of zakat maal to be paid, standardising in effect what has been up to that point a matter of Islamic jurisprudence, and thus subject to considerable debate and disagreement amongst experts (see Hooker 2008: 32–36). At the same time, the urge to regulate zakat, both maal and fitrah, has been strengthened by several local governments issuing regional regulations (peraturan daerah); except for zakat, syariah by-laws usually concern themselves with prohibiting gambling, prostitution and the consumption of alcohol (see Buehler 2008; Salim 2015: 97–99).
- 2.
According to Lindsey (2012: 165), the draft bill included a clause that implied state coercion in the conduct of zakat but the phrasing was subsequently revised, removing the possibility of such interpretation.
- 3.
The drafting of the 2011 bill was both prolonged and extremely complex, involving different teams, several drafts and counter-drafts (see Fauzia 2013: 248–256; Lindsey 2012: 172; Susetyo 2018). It is worth noting that the draft submitted by the Ministry of Religion sought to abolish LAZ, create a monopoly on zakat management by a new body under its auspices and impose penalties for all Muslim citizens who those failed to transfer their zakat to it. Due to strong opposition by LAZ and political parties at the House of People’s Representatives, none of these clauses made their way to the final bill.
- 4.
As Derrida puts it, ‘one cannot speak directly about justice, thematise or objectivize justice, say “this is just” and even less “I am just,” without immediately betraying justice, if not law (droit)’ (1990: 935).
- 5.
For founding and mission of Bank Muamalat, see Hefner 2003. On Indonesian Islamic banking, see Saeed (2004) and Ismal (2013) and on Malaysian Islamic banking, see Rudnyckyj (2019). Choudhury and Malik (1992) and El-Gamal (2006, 2007) discuss the basic principles of Islamic economics and banking, respectively.
- 6.
PIM also accepts donations from non-Islamic, local and international partners, including corporate social responsibility funds, such as Pertamina, the Body Shop Foundation, the Indonesia Stock Exchange and Japan International Cooperation Agency.
- 7.
Along the way PIM started collecting, managing and distributing grants and donations destined for humanitarian relief operations both in Indonesia and abroad, corporate social responsibility funds released from many different companies and corporations it established partnerships with.
- 8.
While preferred sedekah beneficiaries are normally one’s close associates, such as relatives and neighbours, no one is barred from acting as a potential recipient, including non-Muslims and animals. In addition, while Muslims are encouraged to pass things they love and treasure, sedekah is not limited to objects of monetary value for anything of benefit to an-other like a greeting or a smile, counts as such.
- 9.
Wakaf is subject to distinct regulation, both in terms of Islamic jurisprudence and in terms of Indonesian state law. Partly because it often involves parcels of land and/or entire buildings, it has been subject of a greater degree of Indonesian state intervention and bureaucratic administration from colonial to present times (see Lindsey 2012: 173–184; Jahar 2006).
- 10.
All data supplied has been kindly provided by the finance department of PIM.
- 11.
Government-sponsored agencies had been established in 1968 with Soeharto’s encouragement and were known as BAZIS (Badan Amil Zakat Infak dan Sedekah). The majority of the funds collected came from salary deductions of Muslim civil servants who had no real option but to agree to it. With the possible exception of the BAZIS DKI Jakarta, they were overly distrusted by local communities, suspected for funds’ mismanagement.
- 12.
This equal standing was undermined however in the subsequent guidelines (Pedoman Teknis Pengelolaan Zakat No. D-291/2000) issued by the Ministry of Religion that assigned LAZ the status of collection units (unit pengumpul zakat), making them subsidiaries of BAZ. The relative standing of LAZ to BAZ became one of the main issues of contention with respect to the 2011 Zakat Administration Law, see below.
- 13.
Though the law stipulates certain categories of zakatable wealth, it fails to note that such a list could never be exhaustive for any list of zakatable items is itself the subject of scholarly debate and historical variation. In addition, the calculation of the threshold (nisab) above which an item becomes subject to zakat, the respective rates to be applied and the time of conducting zakat, are left unelaborated in the statute. Such matters which, again, vary from one school of Islamic jurisprudence to another are discussed in guidebooks published by the Ministry of Religion such as the Pedoman Teknis Pengelolaan Zakat No. D-291/2000.
- 14.
This accords with the decision of the Fatwa Commission of the Indonesian Council of Islamic Scholars (Majelis Ulama Indonesia ) that notes that an amil can deduct up to 12.5% of zakat funds collected for operational costs. It moreover stipulates that further funds can be deducted for same purposes from other categories of donations such as infak/sedekah , see Keputusan Komisi B1 Ijtima Ulama Komisi Fatwa se-Indonesia III Masalah Yang Terkait Dengan Zakat on January 26, 2009.
- 15.
The 2011 law also included heavy penalties—five-year jail term or 500 million rupiah fine—for those found guilty of misuse of zakat and other Islamic donation funds, inclusive of contravening unspecified syariah regulations.
- 16.
The term is in English and italics in the original, see p. 92 of Putusan No. 86/PUU—X/2012 Mahkamah Konstitusi Republik Indonesia.
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Retsikas, K. (2020). Justifying Law. In: A Synthesis of Time. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34933-2_3
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