Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:57:23.788Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Establishing Social Justice Through Financial Inclusivity: Islamic Propagation by Islamic Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 June 2014

Minako Sakai
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Islamic finance has been growing significantly across the globe. In Southeast Asia, interest in Islamic finance and its growth is significant in Malaysia. Compared with Malaysia, in Indonesia, however, the largest Muslim population country where an Islamic resurgence has been widely taking place, the growth of Islamic banks remains slower and on a smaller scale. Furthermore, recent research shows that Islamic piety does not systematically translate into the use of Islamic banks among middle-class Indonesians. Against these findings, this article highlights a relatively understudied Islamic finance institution, Islamic Savings and Credit Cooperatives, in Indonesia commonly known as Baitul Maal wat Tamwil (BMT). The BMT sector is separate from the banking sector and as such has received little scholarly attention as part of Islamic finance in Indonesia. The number of the BMTs in Indonesia has increased significantly since the 1990s and they are grass-roots Islamic financial institutions offering financial services to relatively small-scale traders in urban areas. Based on data from anthropological research in Central Java, this article argues that Islamic propagation is an important element among the BMT founders and workers. They perceive their economic activities as Islamic propagation by deeds (dakwah bil hal) to achieve social justice.

Keywords

anthropology of faith-based organisationsIslamic financeBMTsIslamic propagationIndonesia
Type
Articles
Information
TRaNS: Trans-Regional and -National Studies of Southeast Asia , Volume 2 , Special Issue 2: Asia(ns) on the Move , July 2014 , pp. 201 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © Institute of East Asian Studies, Sogang University 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anggraeni, Dewi. 2006. Dreamseekers: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia, Jakarta and Singapore: Equinox Publishing.Google Scholar
Antonio, Muhammad Syafii. 2008. Islamic microfinance initiative to enhance small and medium-sized enterprises. In Fealy, Greg and White, Sally (eds.), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, pp. 251–266. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Publishing.Google Scholar
Aziz, Amin. 2004. Pedoman Penilaian Kesehatan BMT Baitul Maal wat Tamwil. Jakarta: Pinbuk, Press. Google Scholar
Azra, Azyumardi. 2006. Islam in the Indonesian World: An Account of Institutional Formation. Bandung: Mizan.Google Scholar
Bornstein, Erica. 2005. The Spirit of Development: Protestant NGOS, Morality and Economics in Zimbabwe. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Bowen, John. 1989. Salat in Indonesia: the social meanings of an Islamic ritual. Man (n.s) 24, 600–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Business News. 2013. Indonesia sees slower Islamic Banking growth in 2014. 18 December 2013.Google Scholar
Clarke, Gerald and Jennings, Michael. 2008. Development, Civil Society and Faith-Based Organizations: Bridging the Sacred and the Secular. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choiruzzad, Shofwan Al Banna. 2013. More gain, more pain: the development of Indonesian's Islamic economy movement (1980s–2012). Indonesia 95, 125–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Effendy, Bahtiar. 2005. Islamic economic institutions in Indonesia: a religio-political perspective. In Nathan, K. S. and Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (eds.), Islam in Southeast Asia: Political, Social and Strategic Challenges for the 21st Century, pp. 64–81. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Eickelman, Dale and Jon, Anderson. 1999. New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Publish Sphere. Second Edition. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana university Press.Google Scholar
Fealy, Greg. 2008. Consuming Islam: commmodified religion and aspirational pietism in contemporary Indonesia. In Fealy, Greg and White, Sally (eds.), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, pp. 15–39. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haneef, Mohamed Aslam. 2005. The development and impact of Islamic economic institutions: the Malaysian experience. In Nathan, K. S. and Kamali, Mohammad Hashim (eds.) Islam in Southeast Asia: Political, Social and Strategic Challenges for the 21st Century, pp. 82–102. Singapore: ISEAS.Google Scholar
Hasan, Noorhaidi. 2009. The making of public Islam: piety, agency, and commodification on the landscape of the Indonesian public sphere. Contemporary Islam 3(3), 229–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hasan, Noorhaidi and Abubakar, Ifran. 2011. Islam di Ruang Publik: Politik Identitas Masa Depan Demokrasi di Indonesia. Jakarta: Center for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC), State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.Google Scholar
Hefner, Robert. 1996. Islamizing capitalism: on the founding of Indonesia's first Islamic bank. In Woodword, Mark (ed.), Toward New Paradigm: Recent Developments in Indonesian Islamic Thought, pp. 291–322. Tempe: Arizona State University.Google Scholar
Hefner, Robert. 1997. Print Islam: mass media and ideological rivalries among Indonesian Muslims. Indonesia 64, 77–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hill, Hall. 2000. The Indonesian Economy. Second Edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helmantita, Karlina. 2006. Managing Islamic philanthropy with modern management: the experiences of dompet dhuafa. In Bamualim, Chaider S., Scott, Cheyne, van der Meij, Dick and Abubakar, Irfan (eds.), Islamic Philanthropy and Social Development in Contemporary Indonesia, pp. 85–118. Jakarta: Center for the Study of Religion and Culture (CSRC), State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta.Google Scholar
Inkopsyah BMT. 2006. Company Profile.Google Scholar
Isbah, Falikul. 2012. Religiously committed and prosperously developed: the survival of pesantren salf in modern Indonesian Islamic education. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 6(1), 83–104.Google Scholar
Ismail, Salwa. 2007. Islamism, re-Islamization and the fashioning of Muslim selves: refiguring the public sphere. Muslim World Journal of Human Rights 4(1), 1–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Juoro, Umar. 2008. The development of Islamic banking in the post-crisis Indonesian economy. In Fealy, Greg and White, Sally (eds.), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, pp. 229–250. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Kailani, Najib. 2012. Forum Lingkar Pena and Muslim youth in contemporary Indonesia. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 46(1), 33–53.Google Scholar
Lindsey, Tim. 2012. Between piety and prudence: state Syariah and the regulation of Islamic banking in Indonesia. Sydney Law Review 34, 107–127.Google Scholar
Lubis, Nur Ahmad Fadhil. 2004. Financial activism among Indonesian Muslims. In Hooker, Virginia Matheson and Saikal, Amin (eds.), Islam Perspectives on the New Millennium, pp. 91–112. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Mahmood, Saba. 2005. Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Meuleman, Johan. 2011. Dakwah, competition for authority and development. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 167(2–3), 236–269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Möller, Andre. 2005a. Ramadan di Jawa: Pandangan dari Luar. Jakarta: NALAR.Google Scholar
Möller, Andre. 2005b. Islam and Traweh prayers in Java: unity, diversity, and cultural smoothness. Indonesia and the Malay World 33, 37–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Occhipinti, Laurie. 2005. Acting on Faith: Religious Development Organizations in Northwestern Argentina. New York: Lexington Books.Google Scholar
Okamoto, Masaaki. 2010. The rise of the “realistic” Islamist party: PKS in Indonesia. In Ota, Atsushi, Okamoto, Masaaki and Suaedy, Admed (eds.), Islam in Contention: Rethinking Islam and State in Indonesia, pp. 219–254. Jakarta; Kyoto; Taipei: The Wahid Institute; Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University; Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, Academia Sinica.Google Scholar
Pringle, Robert. 2010. Understanding Islam in Indonesia: Politics and Diversity. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.Google Scholar
Pepinsky, Thomas. 2013. Development, social change and Islamic finance in contemporary Indonesia. World Development 41, 157–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rinaldo, Rachel. 2008. Muslim women, middle class habitus, and modernity in Indonesia, Contemporary Islam 2, 23–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rizky, Awalil. 2007. BMT Fakta dan Prospek Baitul Maal wat Tamwil. Yogyakarta: UCY Press.Google Scholar
Republika. 2010. BMT Indonesia kelola aset Rp. 3 Triliun. 20 October.Google Scholar
Roff, William. 2009. Studies on Islam and Society in Southeast Asia. Singapore. National University of Singapore Press.Google Scholar
Roy, Oliver. 1994. The Failure of Political Islam. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rudnyckyj, Daromir. 2009a. Market Islam in Indonesia. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute 15, S183–S201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudnyckyj, Daromir. 2009b. Spiritual economies: Islam and neoliberalism in contemporary Indonesia. Cultural Anthropology 24(1), 104–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakai, Minako. 2008. Community development through Islamic microfinance: serving the poor in a viable way. In Fealy, Greg and White, Sally (eds.), Expressing Islam: Religious Life and Politics in Indonesia, pp. 267–286. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies.Google Scholar
Sakai, Minako. 2010a. Growing together in partnership: women's views of the business practices of an Islamic savings and credit cooperative (Baitul Maal wat Tamwil) in Central Java, Indonesia. Women's Studies International Forum 33(4), 412–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakai, Minako. 2010b. Ethical self-improvement in everyday life: propagating the Islamic way of life in globalised Indonesia. In Morrell, Elizabeth and Barr, Michael (eds.), Crises and Opportunities: Past, Present and Future, Proceedings of the 18th Biennial Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, 5 – 8 July 2010, University of Adelaide, Australia. (Paper available at http://asaa.asn.au/ASAA2010/reviewed_papers/)Google Scholar
Sakai, Minako. 2012a. Introduction - for Islamic propagation and practices in contemporary Indonesia. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 46(1), 1–8.Google Scholar
Sakai, Minako. 2012b. Preaching to Muslim youth in Indonesia: the Dakwa Activities of Habiburrahman El Shirazy. Review of Indonesian and Malaysian Affairs 46(1), 9–32.Google Scholar
Sakai, Minako and Fauzia, Amelia. 2014. Islamic orientations in contemporary Indonesia: Islamism on the rise? Asian Ethnicity 15(1), 41–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sakai, Minako and Marijan, Kacung. 2008. Harnessing Islamic Microfinance: Policy Briefs, No. 9. Unpublished report for the Australia Indonesia Governance Research Partnership, Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, The Australian National University, Canberra.Google Scholar
Salim, Arskal. 2003. Zakat administration in politics of Indonesian New Order. In Salim, Arskal and Azra, Azyumardi (eds.), Shari'a and Politics in Modern Indonesia. pp 181–19. Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salim, Arskal. 2008. The Shift in the Zakat Practice in Indonesia: From Piety to an Islamic Socio-Political-Economic System. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books.Google Scholar
Schielke, Samuli. 2009. Being good in Ramadan: ambivalence, fragmentation and the moral self in the lives of young Egyptians. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15, S24–S40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seibel, Hans. 2008. Islamic microfinance in Indonesia: the challenge of institutional diversity, regulation, and supervision. Sojourn 23(1), 86–103.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith-Hefner, Nancy. 2007. Javanese women and the veil in post-Soeharto Indonesia. The Journal of Asian Studies 66(2), 389–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soares, Benjamin and Osella, Filippo. 2009. Islam, politics, anthropology. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 15, S1–S23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sukaca, Agus. 2007. Gerakan Pengajian Muhammadiyah: Pengembang Misi Menyebarluaskan Ajaran Islam yang Berdasarkan Al-Qur'an dan Al-Hadits, Suara Muha-mmadiyah. Kalimantan Timur: Pimpinan Wilayah Muhammadiyah.Google Scholar
Tambunan, Tulus. 2011. Development of micro, small and medium enterprise and their constraints: a story from Indonesia. Gajah Mada International Journal of Business 13(1), 21–43.Google Scholar
Tribun News. 2011. Dana TKI Hongkong di BMT Bringharjo Capai Rp 1,5 miliar. 27 December.Google Scholar
The Economist. 2013. Banking on the ummah, Islamic finance. 5 Jan 2013.Google Scholar
Weintraube, Andrew. 2011. Islam and Popular Culture in Indonesia and Malaysia. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yunus, Muhammad. 2006. Creating a World without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar
Yunus, Muhammad. 2010. Building Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism that Serves Humanity's Most Pressing Needs. New York: Public Affairs.Google Scholar