查看文章

Microfinance has been widely accepted as one of the tools to eradicate poverty. The stories of Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (Indonesian People Bank) in

Indonesia, Self-Help Group in India show the extent to which microfinance can eliminate poverty. The success story has been accepted also with the contribution of Islamic Microfinance Institutions.(Seibel: 2008). Yet, it is unfortunate not many studies have been conducted in order to investigate the impact of culture to the development of microfinance in Indonesia. The cultural factor itself is believed to also influence the existence of poverty (Goode and Eames, 1996 & Lewis, 1998). According to Mohammad Obaidullah (2008) the cultural and religious sensitivities of the Islamic world are somewhat unique and these must be given due emphasis in any attempt to build inclusive financial systems and bring the over one-billion Muslims into the fold of formal financial systems. Research conducted by Deubeul (2003) on microcredit on Mali showed how culture can be integrated in developing microfinance. The success of Grameen Bank is also due to the bank’s understanding of cultural factor embodied in women as their main client (Varghese, 2001). Another research done by Phlong (2009) on informal credit system in Cambodia also indicates that the understanding of local culture assist the effectiveness of microfinance in a society. Latest research by Rana (2008) in Bangladesh also confirmed the need to have cultural orientation in managing the microfinance. These findings leads to the need of diversification in empowering the microfinance institution as well as the Islamic …