Small-scale business ignore Islamic bank edict<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Some small-scale businesspeople expressed on Thursday
\nindifference to the proposed Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI)
\nedict that prohibits bank interest, saying such an instruction
\nmight hamper business.<\/p>\n
Rubiono, who runs a shop selling wooden window and door frames
\non Jl. Pejompongan in Central Jakarta, said what really mattered
\nmost for businesspeople like him was easy access to funds,
\nregardless of the interest applied by either banks, pawn houses
\nor cooperatives.<\/p>\n
"Most of the shop owners here are devout Muslims, yet they
\nobtain credit with a monthly interest of 25 percent from local
\ncooperatives and we don't feel sinful about it," Rubiono, who has
\nbeen on the haj pilgrimage, told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
"God knows we run a decent and fair business to earn a living
\nfor our children," he added.<\/p>\n
Despite the high interest rate, he said, the cooperatives
\nprovide easier access to obtain loans compared to conventional
\nbanks or its sharia units that apply redundant procedures.<\/p>\n
He added he had not been able to obtain a loan from sharia
\nbanks although he had submitted many proposals to them.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, MUI's Edict Commission announced a prohibition on
\nthe payment of interest on deposits and loans involving financial
\ninstitutions such as banks, insurance companies, pawnbrokers and
\ncooperatives, declaring it as riba (usury), which is forbidden
\nunder Islamic law.<\/p>\n
The proposed edict, although non-binding, has sparked
\ncriticism, with bankers saying the ban could hurt the banking
\nsector.<\/p>\n
The commission also called on Muslims to use sharia banks.
\nSome analysts accused executives of sharia banks of having a hand
\nin cooking up the edict.<\/p>\n
Muslim businesswoman Ika Kartika, who runs 13 textile shops in
\nTanah Abang textile market, Central Jakarta, said she saved money
\nin conventional banks, because of the security offered and not
\nfor the interest.<\/p>\n
"It is simply because the banks take care of my money in the
\nsafest possible way," she told the Post.<\/p>\n
She said that it should be up to Muslim bank customers to
\ndecide whether they would use the service of conventional or
\nsharia banks.<\/p>\n
"Those who consider the interest applied by conventional banks
\nunlawful according to Islamic teachings can always go to sharia
\nbanks," she said.<\/p>\n
To help boost her textile business after a fire that had
\nravaged the market earlier this year, she took out a Rp 800
\nmillion (US$94,000) loan from a state-owned bank without having
\nto go through complicated procedures.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/small-scale-business-ignore-islamic-bank-edict-1447893297",
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