The Syariah Banking Bill - An Ever-Growing List of Problems and Debates

The fact that the State with the world's largest Muslim population still does not have a Syariah banking Law should be, or perhaps is, a source of some embarrassment for Indonesia. The Syariah Banking Bill has been on the table since late 2005 when the DPR took it up as an initiative on 27 September 2005. However, despite being allocated to Commission XI and a number of hearings and comparative study tours, the only real development on the enactment front has been an ever-expanding list of problems and contentious issues. This is in stark contrast to the positive outlook of ILB No. 175 (12/10/2005) which did not envisage the sorts of problems that have arisen.