Alternative Dispute Resolution for Islamic Finance in Malaysia

Abstract

The law lays down rules that govern private disputes, self-help actions or open-conflicts that may occur in the society. Here, courts, tribunals, arbitration and other dispute resolution forums are the main secular institutions in dispensing just resolutions in a society. As important as the court proceedings, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process is neutral, it is like a judge who served as the finder of fact and decision maker for the parties involved. By adapting the ADR methods in resolving the disputes relating to Islamic financial products, this method will able to fulfil with the demands on Islamic financial markets in Malaysia. As the highest law of the land places Islam, the religion associated with one of the main ethnicity, as the official religion of the nation and allowed the duality of economic system, in particular banking system, in which conventional banking system exists side-by-side with the Sharia-compliant, Islamic banking. This paper will reviewing the pertinent literature on the development of Islamic banking cases, the Alternative dispute resolution methods on Islamic banking and its contributions to Malaysian society regardless of ethnicity and religion. The discussion in this paper therefore will be directed towards highlighting the alternative dispute resolution methods on Islamic banking and its implication to enhance the application of Islamic banking laws to consumers regardless of ethnicity and religion, in order to maintaining fairness and justice in a multi-ethnic society.