Policymakers’ Logic on Islamic Banking: Islamic Banking as an Ethno-Political Tool in Malaysia

Hideki Kitamura

doi:10.1177/1868103420972406

Abstract

Social scientists have long sought to understand what Islamic banking is. This study seeks to answer this question by exploring the neoliberalisation process of Islamic banking policies in Malaysia and identifying policymakers’ logic behind this process. For this purpose, this study conducted interviews with actors associated with Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the central bank of Malaysia. The findings demonstrate that, in the neoliberal era, BNM quietly and continuously pursued the goal of preferably giving economic opportunities to Malay Muslims by establishing institutional mechanisms rather than by offering preferential treatment in a straightforward manner. The Shariah nature of Islamic banking served to conceal this goal from the public. I define Islamic banking as an ethno-political tool rather than simply as a religious economy and contend that the philosophy of Islamic banking as a moral economy conceals an agenda of protecting Malay interests.

Highlights

Islamic Banking as a Global EconomyIslamic banking began to prevail as part of the worldwide Islamic resurgence in the middle of the twentieth century and is globally recognisable even in the Western world.1 It emerged as a new religious economy, and as a global political movement to extricate Muslim society from Western capitalism (Siddiqi, 1981)
Islamic banking is an ethno-p olitical tool rather than an Islam- oriented economy, and an agenda of protecting Malay interests lies behind the philosophy of Islamic banking as a moral economy
Increasing Shariah-related positions was considered a convenient technique for creating a Malay Muslim community in the banking industry because such positions are largely exclusive to Malays in the Malaysian context

Summary

Introduction

Islamic Banking as a Global EconomyIslamic banking began to prevail as part of the worldwide Islamic resurgence in the middle of the twentieth century and is globally recognisable even in the Western world. It emerged as a new religious economy, and as a global political movement to extricate Muslim society from Western capitalism (Siddiqi, 1981). Islamic banking began to prevail as part of the worldwide Islamic resurgence in the middle of the twentieth century and is globally recognisable even in the Western world.1 It emerged as a new religious economy, and as a global political movement to extricate Muslim society from Western capitalism (Siddiqi, 1981). Muslim intellectuals, including Islamic economists, severely criticised Western capitalism as being acquisitive and promoted Islamic banking as a social welfare-oriented economic system (Kuran, 2004; Maududi, 1941). Because of this historical background, Islamic banking is said to be a product of the Islamisation of banking (Aziz, 2014). Taking an anthropological approach, Rudnyckyj (2016: 8) seeks a transnationally valid definition of Islamic banking based on its actors’ discourse

Objectives

Conclusion