Digital and cross-border assets further complicate sharia wealth planning in Indonesia and ASEAN.
JAKARTA — The growth of digital assets and the increasing complexity of cross-border ownership are posing mounting challenges to sharia wealth planning practices in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia.
The lack of wealth planning not only triggers inheritance disputes but also carries social consequences, particularly for families and elderly groups.
Nur Hidayah, Professor of Islamic Economics at UIN Syarief Hidayatullah Jakarta, highlighted the paradox in Indonesia, where the majority of the population is Muslim, yet the level of wealth planning remains very low.
She said only around 10% of Indonesian Muslims have completed and communicated their wealth planning.
“About 87% of Indonesia’s population is Muslim, but only around 10% have completed their wealth planning,” Nur Hidayah said at the international symposium Ethical Wealth and Social Impact, a collaboration between Menara Syariah and Universiti Tunku Abdulrahman (UTAR) in Banten on Wednesday (11/2).
She added that weak planning has directly contributed to a rise in inheritance disputes.
More than 3,500 inheritance cases have been recorded in court, with Islamic assets valued at around IDR 2,972.94 billion, most of which have ended in family conflict.
According to Nur, an inheritance approach that relies solely on faraidh is no longer sufficient amid the complexity of modern assets.
Inherited wealth now includes digital assets such as cryptocurrency, NFTs, digital businesses, social media monetisation, cloud data, as well as cross-border assets subject to different tax regimes.
A similar view was expressed by Kuah Yoke Chin, assistant professor at UTAR Malaysia, who said the level of wealth planning in Malaysia also remains below 10%.
She attributed the low level of planning to limited public awareness, high service costs and a lack of understanding about the assets individuals own.
Kuah also pointed to the absence of standardised wealth planning documents in Malaysia, in contrast with Indonesia, which she said is beginning to develop a more integrated system.
In her view, policy standardisation is key to ensuring wealth planning can be carried out more broadly and consistently.
Meanwhile, Murniati Mukhlisin, chairwoman of the Islamic Financial Planners Association (IFPA), stressed the importance of wealth planning while individuals are still in good health.
She underlined the need for clear documentation and a proper understanding of instruments such as wills and grants to prevent assets from being locked and to avoid family disputes. (SF/DK/ZH)
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