Dalam paparannya, Euis menegaskan bahwa kedaulatan sejati sebuah bangsa tidak cukup diukur dari keutuhan wilayah, melainkan dari kemampuan negara menentukan arah ekonominya sendiri serta memastikan hasil pembangunan dirasakan oleh seluruh lapisan masyarakat, termasuk kelompok paling rentan.
"Kedaulatan ekonomi tidak lahir dari angka pertumbuhan, melainkan dari rasa memiliki seluruh rakyat atas hasil pembangunan," ujarnya.
Euis memaparkan sejumlah data terbaru yang menggambarkan kondisi ekonomi nasional. Pertumbuhan ekonomi pada triwulan II 2026 tercatat 5,29 persen, melambat dibanding periode sebelumnya sebesar 5,61 persen. Sementara itu, tingkat kemiskinan per Maret 2026 turun ke 8,07 persen atau setara 22,93 juta jiwa, dan pengangguran terbuka berada di angka 4,68 persen per Februari 2026.
Namun, rasio gini justru naik 0,005 poin menjadi 0,368 pada Maret 2026. Kelompok 40 persen penduduk dengan pengeluaran terendah hanya menikmati 19,22 persen dari total pengeluaran nasional. Bank Dunia bahkan memperkirakan pada April 2026 sebanyak 64,2 persen penduduk Indonesia masih berada di bawah garis USD 8,30 per hari (PPP).
"Di sinilah letak paradoksnya: kemiskinan turun ke level terendah, tapi ketimpangan malah melebar," kata Euis.
Euis juga menyoroti besarnya potensi ekonomi syariah yang belum dioptimalkan. Menurut OJK, aset keuangan syariah nasional mencapai Rp3.131 triliun pada 2025, sementara aset perbankan syariah tumbuh 10,49 persen year on year menjadi Rp1.062 triliun pada Maret 2026. Namun pangsa pasar keuangan syariah masih stagnan di kisaran 7 persen selama lebih dari tiga dekade — jauh tertinggal dari Malaysia yang telah melampaui 40 persen.
Potensi ZISWAF ditaksir Rp327,6 triliun per tahun, tapi baru sekitar 10 persen yang terhimpun. Realisasi zakat baru sekitar 14 persen dari potensinya, sementara wakaf uang baru terealisasi sekitar Rp3,5 triliun dari potensi Rp180 triliun per tahun. Peringkat Indonesia dalam Global Islamic Economy Indicator (SGIE) 2025/2026 pun turun dari posisi ketiga ke posisi keempat.
Berdasarkan analisis tersebut, Euis mengusulkan empat kerangka kebijakan utama: penurunan kemiskinan, penurunan ketimpangan, penekanan angka pengangguran, dan peningkatan kesejahteraan masyarakat.
Ia juga mendorong KAHMI untuk berperan aktif melalui empat langkah konkret, yakni menjadi "rumah gagasan" kebijakan berbasis data lewat Dewan Pakar, mengembangkan inkubator ekonomi umat bagi UMKM dan koperasi binaan alumni, melakukan advokasi kebijakan APBN/APBD agar berpihak pada rakyat kecil, serta memperkuat jejaring alumni lintas sektor dan lintas generasi.
Sebagai penutup, Euis mengusulkan lima rekomendasi kebijakan sekaligus target indikatif hingga 2029: kemiskinan turun dari 8,07 persen (2026) menuju kisaran 5,0 persen, pengangguran ditekan dari 4,68 persen ke sekitar 4,0 persen, rasio gini diperbaiki dari 0,368 ke kisaran 0,34, dan pertumbuhan didorong dari 5,29 persen menuju 7,0 persen. Ia menegaskan bahwa keberhasilan pembangunan harus diukur secara bersamaan: pertumbuhan naik sekaligus rasio gini dan kemiskinan turun.
"Angka pertumbuhan boleh naik, tapi kedaulatan ekonomi baru teruji ketika rakyat kecil ikut merasakannya," tegasnya.
Simposium ini merupakan bagian dari rangkaian Simposium Nasional "KAHMI untuk Kedaulatan Bangsa" yang turut menghadirkan sejumlah tokoh nasional, di antaranya Wakil Menteri Kesehatan RI Benyamin P. Octavianus, Menteri Pendidikan Tinggi, Sains dan Teknologi RI Prof. Brian Yuliarto, M.Eng, Ph.D, Ketua Komisi II DPR RI M. Rifqinizamy Karsayuda, serta Kepala BRIN Prof. Dr. Arief Satria. Acara digelar Kamis, 10 September 2026, pukul 08.30–16.30 WIB di Ruang Nusantara V, Kompleks DPR/MPR Senayan.
Speaking at the "KAHMI for National Sovereignty" symposium on economics, held Thursday, September 10, 2026, Prof. Euis Amalia, a professor of Islamic economics at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and a member of the KAHMI Expert Council, argued that true sovereignty cannot be measured by growth figures alone. It depends, she said, on a nation's ability to chart its own economic course and ensure development actually reaches its most vulnerable citizens.
"Economic sovereignty is not born from growth figures, but from a shared sense of ownership among all citizens over the fruits of development," she said.
Citing the latest official figures, Amalia said economic growth slowed to 5.29 percent in the second quarter of 2026, down from 5.61 percent in the previous quarter. Poverty, meanwhile, fell to 8.07 percent as of March 2026 — equivalent to 22.93 million people — while open unemployment stood at 4.68 percent in February 2026.
But the country's Gini ratio, a standard measure of inequality, ticked up 0.005 points to 0.368 in March 2026. The poorest 40 percent of Indonesians accounted for just 19.22 percent of total national spending, and the World Bank estimated in April 2026 that 64.2 percent of the population still lives below the $8.30-a-day poverty line, measured in purchasing power parity.
"That's the paradox: poverty has fallen to its lowest level, yet inequality has widened," Amalia said.
Amalia also pointed to the largely untapped potential of Indonesia's Islamic economy. According to the Financial Services Authority (OJK), national Islamic financial assets reached 3,131 trillion rupiah in 2025, while Islamic banking assets grew 10.49 percent year-on-year to 1,062 trillion rupiah by March 2026. Even so, Islamic finance's market share has stalled at around 7 percent for more than three decades — far behind Malaysia, where it has surpassed 40 percent.
The potential of zakat, infaq, sadaqah and waqf (ZISWAF) is estimated at 327.6 trillion rupiah a year, yet only about 10 percent of that has been collected. Zakat collection stands at roughly 14 percent of its potential, while cash waqf lags even further behind, with only about 3.5 trillion rupiah realized against an annual potential of 180 trillion rupiah. Indonesia's ranking in the 2025/2026 State of the Global Islamic Economy (SGIE) report also slipped from third to fourth place.
Based on that data, Amalia proposed four core policy priorities: reducing poverty, narrowing inequality, cutting unemployment, and raising overall welfare.
She also urged KAHMI, an alumni association of the Islamic Students Association (HMI), to move beyond discussion and into action through four concrete steps: serving as a policy think tank through its Expert Council, running an economic incubator to help alumni-backed small businesses and cooperatives scale up, advocating for national and regional budgets that prioritize ordinary citizens, and strengthening its network of alumni across government, business, academia and civil society.
Amalia closed with five policy recommendations and a set of indicative targets through 2029: bringing poverty down from 8.07 percent in 2026 to around 5.0 percent, cutting unemployment from 4.68 percent to about 4.0 percent, improving the Gini ratio from 0.368 to around 0.34, and lifting growth from 5.29 percent to 7.0 percent. She stressed that success must be measured on all fronts at once — growth rising alongside falling inequality and poverty, not growth alone.
"Growth figures may rise, but economic sovereignty is only truly tested when ordinary people share in its benefits," she said.
The symposium was part of a broader "KAHMI for National Sovereignty" event series, which also featured Indonesia's Deputy Minister of Health, Benyamin P. Octavianus; Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Prof. Brian Yuliarto; House of Representatives Commission II Chairman M. Rifqinizamy Karsayuda; and BRIN (National Research and Innovation Agency) chief Prof. Arief Satria. The event was held Thursday, September 10, 2026, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. local time at the Nusantara V Hall, DPR/MPR Complex, Jakarta.
