It's knowledge sharing day again at BAG and the topic this time is Islamic Banking Concepts. It is not the first KS we have on - during a Ramadhan afternoon we had some bankers over from BIBD to talk about their Islamic Banking Products.
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Words like Murabahah (cost plus/commercial trade instrument), Sukuk (Islamic Bond) and Mudharabah (Profit Sharing instruments) gets highlighted but it all down to Riba or usurious interest and Gharar (unknown/uncertain consequences - haram because it is equivalent to gambling). Understanding these two concepts, and a very strong knowledge in Sharia- which is accessible to everyone in Brunei through our afternoon Sekolah Ugama - you can come up with many different flavour of Halal financial product - and Brunei has very strong potential to access the 500 billion USD market of Islamic Banking. Most Bruneian people mistakenly think - including Awangku before I straightened it out - that Islamic Banking is about not making profit - but the numbers says otherwise.
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Being a small country with close knit society, Brunei has proven that we don't main-main when it comes to Halal-Haram through our international known guaranteed Halal food product. So why not expand it to Islamic Banking? The challenge is for our Islamic bankers and UNISSA scholars to come up with alternatives to the controversial murabahah concepts currently practiced by most conventional turned Islamic banks, who are staffed with, according to some professional and academias, bankers who are educated in capitalist Western way. The challenge would also be to make the Islamic banks as competitive as conventional bank.
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As mentioned during the discussion - Shariah Compliant/Halal Living should not come with a premium, it should be a way of life - not something special you have to pay extra! Good customer service should not be a concept you hear only from BAG Networks blogs (waseh) or see at HSBC outlets. It should be inherent in every business in Brunei Darussalam including services from the government itself!
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Shariah Compliance Lifestyle... I how wonder what kind of animal it is? :)
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