The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of the BPKH receive a stunning salary of around IDR 100- IDR 150 million per month per person but offer minuscule benefits for pilgrims.
The Hajj savings are mostly used to pay for the BPKH Executing Agency (BP) than to serve the pilgrims. The BPKH Executing Agency receives a high salary, but its ability to manage the Hajj funds is limited to investing in SBSN, which has a low return. What a shame.
It is true that the management of the Hajj funds regulated by law must be based on sharia principles, be prudent and be conventional. However, it must also prioritize optimum benefit for pilgrims. The BPKH seems to be held hostage by the Finance Ministry, for most of its investment is only in SBSN – with a rate of 5.5%.
In fact, if the BPKH were to function optimally, the rate of return for Hajj funds management would be 15%. With the pilgrim’s initial deposit of IDR 25 million and an assumption of a 20-year waiting period, the initial deposit could grow to IDR 409.1 million at the end of the 20th year.
Fourth, the Hajj funds always grow. Last time, they were recorded at IDR 167 trillion. However, the value of benefit/managed funds ratio is extremely low, only 5.5% -6% in 2021. This shows that the BPKH does not manage it well and does not understand how to optimize Islamic finance properly.
Fifth, the value of the benefits gained in 2021 was around 8-9 trillion. Although it increased three years ago in 2019 (IDR 7.3 trillion), the amount was too insignificant. How could it be called Hajj financial management if it only invests the Hajj funds in SBSN?
Sixth, the BPKH’s investment is far from being creative. The majority of IDR 167 trillion managed funds went to the Indonesian Hajj Fund Sukuk (SDHI) or SBSN, whose return is minimal. SBSN offers a meager return. It was issued to finance the State Budget and development projects.
Seventh, projects for the benefit of the people also need to be evaluated when Islamic education schools are already mushrooming, such as the construction of embarkations in various regions, manasik (Hajj ritual) buildings, Muslim schools and universities. Meanwhile, the BPKH’s operational costs are considerably significant despite a slight decrease. Operational costs are divided by the value of benefits of 2.02% (2020), although it reached 7.06% in 2016.
MoRA officials repeatedly denied that the Hajj funds were used for infrastructure projects, but they seemed to be mistaken. According to the BPKH’s financial reports in the first half of 2022, it is clearly stated that 70% of the IDR 167 trillion Hajj funds were used to purchase the Government’s SBSN.
The SBSN is used by the Finance Ministry to finance the State Budget. One of the State Budget’s expenditures is to finance infrastructure, such as the provision of state capital in the Chinese consortium’s Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train, the construction of basic infrastructure for the new capital city and others which cannot be separated by component.