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| Material discussion done by several experts. (Photo by Rino PR of UMM) |
Economic jihad is a way to achieve economic justice in society. The Special Staff of the President conveyed this for Economic Affairs, Dr. Arif Budimanta Sebayang, M.Sc. as a speaker at the Ramadhan Discussion 1444 H by the Pimpinan Wilayah Muhammadiyah (Trans: East Java Muhammadiyah Regional Leadership) held at the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM). The agenda was attended by thousands of participants on March 25, 2023, presenting several exciting presenters.
Furthermore, Arif explained that the main objective of economic jihad acceleration in the national context is to improve citizens' socio-economic standard of living. Reaching that goal requires a mature strategy like obliging an even distribution of economic resources. This is because economic injustice can lead to social instability.
Thus, progressive cooperation is needed to rearrange the distribution of resources or capital fairly and equitably. Therefore, everyone has the opportunity to fulfill the basic needs of life or the social rights of society in general. Likewise, with efforts to ensure decent employment opportunities.
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Moreover, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce Chairman, M. Arsjad Rasjid PM. Explained that Muhammadiyah has an opportunity in economic jihad while helping Indonesia achieve the vision of a golden Indonesia in 2045 and Indonesia's desire to become the fourth largest economy in the world. Among the existing organisasi masyarakat (ormas) (trans: community organizations) according to him, Muhammadiyah is the leading ormas that always provides innovation and contributes to the economy, with the contribution of extraordinary social aspects to the nation and people of Indonesia.
"You could say that Muhammadiyah has a big contribution in the fields of education, health and the economy. Likewise with assets and extraordinary economic valuations. This certainly makes Muhammadiyah the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia. In fact, many people say it is the largest Islamic organization in the world," said Rasjid.
Rasjid, also the Chair of the ASEAN-BAC, explained that Muhammadiyah has the opportunity to encourage halal industry development in Indonesia. For example, in the fields of culinary, fashion, cosmetics, to tourism. Islamic finance can be used to attract Muslim consumers on a global scale.
"Developing a Muhammadiyah social entrepreneurship hub is a solution that can be tried to encourage and develop social entrepreneurship in Indonesia. It could also be by establishing closed-loop inclusive partnerships or attached assistance from large companies to MSMEs and regional farmers through technology transfer, knowledge transfer, access to finance and markets," Rasjid explained.
In line with Rasjid, the General Secretary of PP Muhammadiyah, Prof. Dr. Abdul Mu'ti, M.Ed., conveyed the four capitals owned by Muhammadiyah to carry out economic jihad. The first capital is theological spiritual capital. Where Islam as a religion encourages its followers to become productive, independent, and creative human beings.
"Then the second capital is socio-cultural capital. Since its establishment, Muhammadiyah has had entrepreneurship among natives and students. Even with the third capital, namely network capital, as we know, Muhammadiyah has a network with business charities in various fields," explained Mu'ti.
Finally, there is political capital. According to him, Muhammadiyah members must be close to the government. Many state policies are only sometimes favorable in economic empowerment, such as the financial gap.
"In carrying out economic jihad, Muhammadiyah needs to regenerate the entrepreneurial ethos and social capitalization of entrepreneurship in Islamic philanthropy. Besides, creative capitalism also needs to be re-grown so that it can encourage social business units to become business units that have economic value," he concluded. (Put/*/Zak/Wil)
