Jakarta, Feb. 28 -- Minister of Religious Affairs Nasaruddin Umar proposed that zakat (obligatory almsgiving) payments be treated as tax deductions to boost zakat contributions.

"In Indonesia, zakat is only a deductible factor from taxable income," Minister Umar stated in Jakarta on Friday.

Umar believes that allowing zakat payments to serve as a tax reduction would lead to an increase in zakat revenue.

He cited Malaysia as an example, where zakat payments are already used to reduce the amount of tax payable.

"Our neighbor Malaysia, for example, allows zakat to be a tax deduction. They consider zakat payment receipts as a factor that reduces tax payments," he remarked.

"If that can be adopted in Indonesia, who knows, we might be like...