On Islamic banking

I would like to thank Dr Muhammad Akhyar Adnan of Universitas Islam Indonesia, Yogyakarta, for his excellent article on sharia banking (The Jakarta Post, Aug. 4).

Conventional, or Western-style banking, is based fundamentally on two relationships: The market value of money, which, like the stock market, is a very sophisticated form of gambling, and a very unequal relationship between creditor and debtor. This means that banking procedures tend to be focused on a "market-driven" interest rate return to the bank rather than the combined social and economic value of a particular project.

The profit-sharing paradigm changes this relationship to one of cooperation based on mutually satisfactory and profitable outcomes. As Akhyar rightly suggests, Islamic banking deserves serious scrutiny by non-Muslims as a fairer, more equitable and outcome-oriented means of advancing human society through commerce.

ROB GOODFELLOW Wollongong, NSW Australia