Summary: This article examines the post-disaster economic and social conditions in Sumatra through the evocative local expression “the rupiah has no price,” interpreting it as a symptom of systemic breakdown rather than a legal or monetary anomaly. Drawing on disaster economics, the paper frames the crisis as a dual shock, simultaneous disruption of supply chains and collapse of household incomes, wherein cash remains present yet loses functional power because essential goods, services, and mobility are constrained. Using a narrative vignette of a flooded village to ground the analysis, the study argues that the “powerlessness” of the rupiah emerges when markets, logistics corridors, electricity, and payment infrastructures fracture, producing scarcity, price spikes, income cessation, and transactional failure. From an Islamic economics perspective, the article positions money as a means (wasilah) rather than an end (ghayah), and evaluates monetary resilience in terms of public welfare (maslahah), distributive justice, and the protection of wealth (hifz al-mal). It highlights the particular vulnerability of paper cash in disaster settings, susceptible to physical damage, loss during evacuation, hygiene risks, and diminished usability under small-denomination shortages, thereby reinforcing the need to treat “money resilience” as inseparable from distribution resilience and social protection. The paper proposes an Islamic-informed recovery pathway that integrates ethical governance and real-sector restoration: mobilizing Islamic social finance (zakat, sadaqah, productive waqf) as a rapid stabilizer; expanding non-extractive recovery financing to avoid riba-based debt traps; rebuilding fair markets through anti-hoarding enforcement and transparent distribution; and developing redundant payment systems that combine cash logistics with context-appropriate digital rails.
When “the Rupiah is Meaningless” Becomes a Moral–Economic Test
In the aftermath of catastrophic flash floods and landslides across Sumatra, affecting Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, a striking expression began to circulate in everyday conversations: “the rupiah has no price.” This phrase is not a legal claim that currency has ceased to be valid. Rather, it captures a deeper disruption: the market’s coordinating functions and the economic network’s connective tissue have fractured, while households still…
