No abstract

Institutional quality is significantly relevant in determining national competitiveness when reflected in economic growth and successful development. Quality institutions manifest in robust ‘rules of the game’ reflected by sound governance and policymaking in at least four streams: social, economic, administrative, and political. Policy reforms intended to improve national competitiveness should aim to strengthen the streams simultaneously, whereas partial reforms could instead lead to poorer outcomes. Through the lens of institutional quality analysis, this paper critically reviews the relevance of Indonesia’s Job Creation Law, colloquially known as the Omnibus Law, to improve the country’s national competitiveness as conceptually intended. Declared as an overarching regulatory framework, the Law postulates Indonesia as prospecting for increased foreign investments. However, the Law is a partial policy reform as it overlooks the pivotal aspects necessary to improve institutional quality in Indonesia, such as inter-community relations, intellectual property regime certainty, quality vocational education, and meritocratic political recruitment. Thus, regardless of the opportunities, the Law may bring about, it may weaken national competitiveness instead. The Law is currently ruled conditionally unconstitutional by Indonesia’s Constitutional Court. If it is to be defended by the government, however, further multi-sectoral collaboration is necessary for the future implementation of the Law to enhance Indonesia’s institutional quality. In a more global context, this review indicates how developing nations should be mindful of various non-economic aspects (e.g., cultural and educational levels of the population) when undertaking policy reforms especially to enhance their national competitiveness. There may be future downsides to these implications and as it is too early to critically assess them, there is an opportunity through time and future research to do so.

Pengelolaan Dana Haji di Indonesia melewati tonggak sejarah (milestone) krusial ketika tanggung jawabnya diserahkan kepada BPKH pada 2018. Ini berarti Dana Haji kini dikelola dengan makin profesional, transparan, dan independen lengkap dengan kerangka hukumnya. Di dalam Dana Haji yang dikelola BPKH, terdapat komponen Dana Abadi Umat (DAU) yang pengelolaannya masih potensi besar untuk dioptimalkan, salah satunya melalui program kewirausahaan berbasis pesantren. Pesantren dan santri merupakan elemen penting dari generasi penerus Umat Islam di Indonesia sehingga peningkatan kapasitas dan kemandiriannya diharapkan akan memberi manfaat besar terhadap sebesar-besarnya kemaslahatan Umat Islam. Sebagai sebuah tawaran opsi usahanya, tulisan ini mengkaji potensi pariwisata spiritual dan edukasi pesantren, mengingat banyak aspek kehidupan dan pembelajaran di pesantren yang belum terobservasi dan tereksplorasi. Selain selaras dengan aspek legal dan syariah yang dipersyaratkan dalam penggunaan DAU, potensi pemanfaatannya ini dapat menjadi kontribusi nyata Umat Islam kepada Indonesia, khususnya terkait agenda Pemulihan Ekonomi Nasional selama dan pasca-pandemi Covid-19. Opsi ini tentunya tidak lepas dari berbagai tantangan dan risiko. Oleh karena itu, strategi mitigasi yang bijak perlu dipersiapkan.