REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Islamic banks support new Governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), Agus Martowardojo, plan to transform Indonesia to be the center of excellent sharia and takes over the position from Malaysia. His plan will ease the development of Islamic banks in Indonesia.

Head of Sharia Permata Bank, Achmad K Permana, said government commitment would help Islamic banks to walk on the right path. "I am fully support his plan. The cooperation between government and practitioner will encourage Islamic banks to grow faster," Permana said on Tuesday.

Indonesia with the biggest Muslim population in the world, has a huge potency to develop Islamic economy as costumer is the main component to be the center of excellent sharia.

Customer base in Indonesia is about 200 million people. Meanwhile, Malaysia, as the current center of excellent sharia, only has 15 million people.

However, Malaysia beats the Indonesian market share of Islamic banks. Market share of Malaysia reaches 23 percent, while Indonesia is only 4.69 percent.

The growth of Indonesian Islamic banking triples compared to the commercial banking. Nevertheless, Permana said public access to Islamic banks was still low. He expects Agus Martowardojo to give incentive to Islamic banking products.

Executive Director of Bank Syariah Bukopin, Riyanto also welcomes Martowardojo's plan. "That's what we expect," he said.  

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