Photo by Paul Sutaryono

A new book offers insights into the mind of Ma’ruf Amin, a senior cleric who will most likely accompany President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in his second presidential term.

The book, called The Ma’ruf Amin Way and authored by several writers, namely Sahala Panggabean, Anwar Abbas, Chandra Saritua, Bayu Winarko, Frans Meroga Panggabean and Iryan Ali Herdiansyah, seems like a suitable companion to a previously published book called Jokoway, which was written by Eko Sulistio and offers a perspective on Jokowi’s leadership style.

The Ma’ruf Amin Way tries to elaborate on a statement Ma’ruf made on Islamic economics, partnership and redistribution of assets during the Community Economic Congress held by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in 2017.

Ma’ruf said that ideally, economic practices should be based on Islamic values, where partnerships are made in the spirit of mutual cooperation to create equal and mutually beneficial ties. He also explained how asset redistribution should be an effort to eliminate social inequalities caused by the control of assets by a handful of people.

The book’s authors then sharpen Ma’ruf’s ideas and provide concrete explanations.

On page 119, for example, they write that they believe The Ma’ruf Amin Way consists of three principles: justice, societal economy and sovereignty. These are interrelated to create community welfare, the authors suggest.

First, they explain that in Ma’ruf’s first ideal economic principle, economic justice is based on a moral economy that is driven by religious values (sharia economy), humanity and social justice. In upholding religious values, the economy must be managed for everyone’s benefit.

These religious values are the same as the principles of Islamic economics. In addition, economic governance must hold to the principle of glorifying humans and not overthrowing or removing each other, like in capitalism.

As for the second principle on the social economy, the authors suggest that Ma’ruf believes in the ideals of populist economic policies that side with the people. According to their observations, Ma’ruf believes that so far, Indonesia’s economic governance has been more profitable for large entrepreneurs and conglomerates.

After the emergence of the nation’s political democracy in 1998, Ma’ruf wants to see the rise of economic democracy as political democracy without economic democracy would lead to economic inequality, the book explains.

Ma’ruf’s populist economic principle is built on three foundations, namely partnership, unity and democracy led by a democratically elected representative system.

In partnerships, economic management must cling to mutually beneficial aims between large entrepreneurs and private businesses, including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).

According to the authors, Ma’ruf believes that these equal and mutually beneficial partnerships will result in good economic cooperation.

To maintain a united Indonesia, economic governance must be based on the spirit of mutual cooperation, ukhuwah (brotherhood) and ta’awun (cooperation) and the elimination of liberalism and unfavorable competition.

Finally, a democratically elected representative system is an inseparable factor of economic democracy. As mandated in Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, the economy is arranged based on the principle of consensual camaraderie. In this case, shared prosperity is more important than individual interests. For this reason, all the resources contained must be controlled by the state for the people’s prosperity.

The third and final principle explained in The Ma’ruf Amin Way relates to economic sovereignty, which contains the spirit of economic nationalism that holds the principle of independence and empowers the weak to have competitiveness. Economic sovereignty has four important foundations, namely the redistribution of assets, the 1945 Constitution, independent self-reliance and the empowerment of the small.

The redistribution of assets focuses on how assets that are only controlled by a handful of people can be redistributed so that the people have sovereignty to fight for their destiny.

Page 125 of the book explains that ownership of assets by a handful of people will create dependence on other parties so that they do not provide equal opportunities as in an ideal economic democracy.

The book does not only share Ma’ruf’s ideals in theory but also provides examples of how to concretely make them work in real life.

For example, the implementation of village-owned enterprises (BUMDES) in villages across the archipelago is one of the many ways to put Ma’ruf’s ideas into practices.

BUMDES are the driving economic force in villages and they need support in capital, skills and market access. In terms of capital, they need to be supported by the government, corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs and Islamic funding institutions, such as amil zakat, infaq and shadaqah (lazis), along with banking access. In addition, they also need capacity building to manage their business. Market access also means encouraging their products to be widely accepted.

In summary, capital, competence and market access are what the government and the private sector need to provide in order to realize Ma’ruf’s ideals.

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The Ma’ruf Amin Way

Authors: Sahala Panggabean, Anwar Abbas, Chandra Saritua, Bayu Winarko, Frans Meroga Panggabean and Iryan Ali Herdiansyah
Printing: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, Jakarta, 2019
Publisher: PT Gramedia, Jakarta, First printing 2019
Size: 318 pages, 15 centimeters by 21.5 cm
ISBN: 978-602-06-2355-9 & 978-602-06-2356-6 (e-book)

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