indonesian_open Fyi - Acicis study option Islamic banking

[Rochayah Machali]

Teman-teman yang baik,
informasi di bawah ini mungkin ada perlunya.
terima kasih.
Salam,
Rochayah
*******
Learning the business of Islamic banking
by Peter Rodgers, Asian Studies Association of Australia, 
wordlywisdom at ozemail.com.au

Islamic banking is growing at about 15 per cent annually. The 
London-based Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance estimates 
that Islamic banks now manage some $260 billion in funds around the 
globe, with clients throughout the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.

The growing impact of Islamic banking has prompted the Australian 
Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), based at 
Murdoch University in Western Australia, to introduce a course in 
Islamic business and economics. The semester-long program will begin 
in early 2006 at the Islamic University of Indonesia in Yogyakarta, 
Central Java.

ACICIS director, Professor David Hill, says that the course comes at 
a crucial time of often-negative focus on Islam in the non-Muslim 
world. Other experts point to the significant natural resources and 
growth potential of some developing Muslim nations. They argue that 
the next generation of Western business executives will need to know 
a good deal more about Muslim countries than just their GDP figures. 
There will need to be a good understanding of Syariah accounting and 
banking practice and Islamic business ethics.

Islamic banking operates on the principle of sharing profits and 
losses, not of offering a predetermined rate of return to investors. 
Instead of financing the purchase of goods, Islamic banks engage in 
trade. Subsequent sale on to the client at a higher price is regarded 
as legitimate profit because the bank has assumed the risk between 
purchase and resale.

The fact that the ACICIS course is being run in Indonesia, the 
world's largest Muslim country, should expose students to the lively 
debate there about applying Islamic approaches to business and 
finance. In 1992, the Indonesian government introduced new laws 
allowing the possibility of a dual banking system. In 1998, it 
introduced the Islamic Banking Act, after which Islamic banks grew 
rapidly. In the last decade, more than 2000 Islamic microfinance 
institutions have also emerged in Indonesia.

Proponents of the course argue that Australia's trade and economic 
ties with Indonesia and the wider Muslim world can only benefit from 
a better understanding of the growing influence of Islamic business 
practices. Professor Hill says Australians need to appreciate that 
Islamic countries are major players in the world economy. The new 
course, he says, 'aims to give our students, Australian and 
Indonesian, Muslim and non-Muslim, a sharper sense of Islamic values 
and Islamic laws and how these might increasingly affect the world of 
business'.

Links:

*	ACICIS was established as a non-profit organisation in 1994 
to develop and coordinate high-quality, semester-long study programs 
at Indonesian partner universities, for Australian university 
students. For more on its Islamic Business course, see 
http://www.acicis.murdoch.edu.au/hi/uii.html
*	Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance: 
http://www.islamic-banking.com/

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