THE SWOT ANALYSIS OF WAQF GOVERNANCE IN BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

Waqf has been practiced by the Muslim community in Brunei Darussalam since the beginning of their arrival in the country and their acceptance of Islam long years ago. In Brunei Darussalam, all matters relating to waqf are governed and administered by the Islamic Religious Council of Brunei Darussalam (MUIB) based on the provisions of the law contained in the Laws of Brunei Darussalam namely the Islamic Religious Council of Brunei Darussalam (MUIB) and the Court of the Kadi Division 77. The Act has provided that MUIB is the sole trustee of all types of waqf in Brunei. The purpose of this paper is to review the scenario of waqf governance adapted in Brunei Darussalam. The qualitative research design was adopted to provide analysis of the current practices of waqf governance. The data collected were secondary and primary data. Primary data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with waqf officers in MUIB, while secondary data were gained through published regulation and reports, journal papers, and articles. The study uses SWOT analysis in order to gain insights into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats faced by the government of Brunei Darussalam in administering waqf. In the SWOT analysis, the strengths are the advantages of the religious proposition in the country where Muslims are the majority, the successful governance practiced by MUIB and Badan Tanmiah which enable them to generate a high income and give full benefits to all the Muslims from waqf property’s income and the direct financial assistance from the government. With regard to its weakness, there are still unleashed potentials of waqf being explored, problems in human resource and management and also slow growth of waqf development compared to other neighboring countries. The opportunities are the great potential of cash waqf and land. On the other hand, the threats comprise a lack of awareness and understanding of waqf among Muslim donators and resource limitations. Meanwhile, limited fatwa or rules gazette by the mufti in the issue of istibdal and controversy of cash waqf is considered as the other threats. These findings may help the academicians and practitioners to understand the governance issues related to waqf and further recommendations that need to be taken by the relevant parties.