In order to increase sharia financial literacy, especially regarding sustainable infrastructure financing in Indonesia, the Central Leadership Council of the Association of Indonesian Islamic Economic Experts (DPP IAEI) together with the IAEI West Nusa Tenggara Regional Leadership Council (DPW) and PT Penjaminan Infrastruktur Indonesia (Persero) held a National Seminar on Islamic Economics . This seminar was held in a hybrid manner in the Hall of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion of West Nusa Tenggara Province on Wednesday (23/2). The theme is "Sustainable Sharia Financing of Indonesian Infrastructure".
This seminar also serves as momentum for the inauguration of the IAEI NTB DPW for the period 2022 - 2026. This inauguration was carried out by Astera Primanto Bhakti, M.Tax. as Secretary General of IAEI. The decision letter was delivered by Wahyu Jatmiko, Ph.D. as Executive Secretary of IAEI. Through this inauguration, the DPW IAEI NTB management for the period 2022 – 2026 has officially assumed the mandate of managing the organization.
Dr. KH. Zaidi Abdad, MA. as Chair of the IAEI NTB DPW in his speech called on the IAEI management to build strong cooperation with the OJK, Bank Indonesia, and sharia financial institutions. This collaboration is intended to create synergy in making breakthroughs that can provide benefits, especially in relation to changes and sharia economic policies. He also hopes that in the future a real program can be created in developing sharia economics in NTB.
Astera Primanto Bhakti, M. Tax. said that one of the instruments that has a role in a sustainable sharia economy is sukuk. Sukuk play an important role by making dynamic changes in line with current issues such as climate change. Indonesia became the first country to issue green sukuk, namely in March 2018. The allocation is aimed at sustainable transport, waste to energy, renewable energy, resilience to climate change, and energy efficiency. Apart from that, there is a blended finance product, namely CWLS (cash waqf linked sukuk) in the form of cash waqf linked to sukuk.
To carry out regional development that is in line with sharia values and concerns sustainability, this can be done by reducing regional inequality. This can be realized with the Central and Regional Financial Relations Law (HKPD Law) through regional fiscal reform. Therefore, to carry out development in NTB, it is necessary to pay attention to regional income and infrastructure needs.
“The homework for all of us is how we educate the public. If it's not right then we fit it in, if it's right then we strengthen it and we also do comparisons and benchmarking, so that our understanding gets better and stronger. "Finally, we can encourage sharia economic progress in Indonesia that is truly appropriate and in line with economic growth, both Indonesian and global," said Astera Primanto Bhakti, M.Tax., as Secretary General of IAEI.
