Putradinar | Malaysia

Satu lagi produk Lembaga Ekonomi Syariah muncul di tanah air, yaitu Pasar Ukaz berbasis Dinar (emas) dan Dirham (perak) secara online, bernama Pasarukaz.portalcepat.com, diluncurkan pada forum Seminar Internasional Ekonomi Syariah di Wisma Antara, Jakarta, Sabtu 03 April 2010.
Seminar bertema “Kebangkitan Ekonomi Syariah di Tengah Krisis Ekonomi Global”, Sony Sugema MBA selaku pemilik Pasar Ukaz Online mengatakan, tujuan portal tersebut adalah sebagai sarana jual beli umat melalui dunia maya. “Semua dapat menjadi penjual maupun pembeli di pasar ukaz online ini, dengan catatan menerapkan prinsip ekonomi syariah," ujar Sony yang juga Ketua Koperasi Dinarku Bandung.
Salah satu prinsip syariah yang ditetapkan adalah dalam transaksi penjualan dan pembelian, menggunakan dinar dan dirham dengan cara debit nasabah Koperasi Dinarku secara online atau via transfer antarbank syariah.
Pada kesempatan sama, Ketua Dewan Koperasi Indonnesia (Dekopin) Adi Sasono menyatakan, pasar merupakan lokomotif perjalanan produksi dan distribusi, yang selama ini kurang dikuasai umat Islam secara baik. Karenanya, umat Islam perlu memanfaatkan peluang pasar tersebut yang notabene mayoritas umat Islam.
“Kita memiliki ratusan ribu masjid yang dibangun atas dana swadaya masyarakat, menunjukkan adanya potensi ketahanan ekonomi umat, kalau dimediasi melalui pasar elektronik akan menjadi kekuatan,” ujar Adi Sasono.
Adapun dalam mengiringi perjalanan ekonomi syariah, salah satu anggota Dewan Syariah Nasional (DSN), Adiwarman Karim dalam seminar yang dihadiri 200-an peserta itu mengemukakan, perlu adanya ulama yang memahami fikih muamalat dalam mengawal perjalanan lembaga keuangan syariah agar tetap berada di jalan yang benar sesuai syariah.
Sementara, pakar ekonomi syariah negeri jiran Malaysia, DR H Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid pada seminar yang digelar bekerjasama dengan Pesantren Al-Fatah Bogor dan Aqsa Working Group (AWG) Sekretariat Internasional Jakarta menyatakan, pentingnya kekuatan aqidah berlandaskan Al-Quran dan As-Sunnah dalam menjalankan ekonomi syariah melalui aplikasi dinar dirham.
"Mengamalkan dinar dan dirham sebagai mata uang hakiki, berarti kita keluar dari lingkaran riba yang selama ini menjerat ekonomi global berbasis uang kertas," tandas dosen Fakultas Bisnis dan Hukum Universitas Multimedia Melaka, Malaysia.
Turut hadir sebagai pembicara Deputi Rektor Insaniah University Malaysia, Prof Zakaria Man, Presiden Gerai Dinar, Muhaimin Iqbal dan Pengasuh Pondok Pesantren Al-Fatah Bogor, KH Yakhsyallah Mansur MA. Bertindak sebagai moderator Rektor Universitas Mulawarman, Prof.Arifin Bratawinata dan Ketua Aqsa working Group Internasional, Agus Sudarmadji MSc.
Panitia juga menyelenggarakan Pasar Ukaz produk-produk unggulan dari berbagai daerah di Indonesia, yang dalam transaksinya menggunakan dinar dan dirham. Pasar Ukaz dilaksanakan di kompleks Pondok Pesantren Al-Fatah Pasirangin, Cileungsi Bogor sejak tanggal 2-4 April 2010. Pasar tersebut dibuka secara resmi oleh Kepala Bidang Pemerintahan Pemrov Jawa Barat, Ir HTubagus Isni yang sekaligus membacakan sambutan tertulis Gubernur Jawa Barat Ahmad Heryawan.

(Author: Agus Saefullah) 

Didalam teori konvensional, time value of money boleh dijelaskan dengan seorang pemberi modal pinjaman mengharapkan bayaran yang lebih tinggi jumlahnya dari apa yang dipinjamkan untuk suatu jangka waktu. Hampir setiap orang akan mengharapkan pulangan dari pinjaman yang diberikan. Atas alasan modal itu boleh dilaburkan dalam jangka masa tertentu dan memberikan hasil tertentu. Kesannya pemilik modal akan mengharapkan pulangan yang lebih atau lebih dikenali zaman ini sebagai interest atau bunga atau faedah. Alasan lain yang akan digunakan oleh pemilik modal untuk mengenakan interest ialah risiko yang akan mereka akan tanggung jika peminjam tidak dapat membayar balik pinjaman dan risiko inflasi. Adakah ianya alasan atau hanya ingin mencari wang yang mudah dengan hanya memberi pinjam kepada mereka yang susah.?

Dari sini terciptalah rumus-rumus finance yang boleh dipelajari dari buku-buku konvensional seperti:

1. Present value (PV) - digunakan untuk mengira nilai wang pada period waktu sekarang dari pembayaran yang akan dietrima pada masa akan datang.
2. Future value (FV) - digunakan untuk mengira nilai wang pada period akan datang dari sejumlah wang yang dilaburkan pada kadar interest tertentu.

Pemodal disini mengaharapkan pulangan yang lebih kerana bimbang wang mereka akan susut nilai dimakan inflasi, bimbang kuasa membeli mereka semakin berkurang jika peminjam memulangkan kembali wang mereka tanpa interest dan mereka yang akan menanggung rugi. Bukankah lebih berkesan jika pemodal itu memberi pinjaman dalam bentuk yang kalis inflasi dan mengharapkan pembayaran semula dalam bentuk yang kalis inflasi. sebagai contoh A memberi pinjaman sebanyak 100g emas tulen kepada B selama 10 bulan. setiap bulan B akan membayar 10g emas tulen sebagai bayaran pinjaman. Pemberi pinjaman khuatir dengan nilai wang mereka yang semakin menurun kerana kuasa mebeli mereka semakin berkurang dari segi masa. harga makanan naik, harga pakaian naik, harga rumah naik, harga minyak naik dan mereka perluka wang semakin banyak dimasa depan. tetapi jika mereka  memberi pinjaman dalam bentuk yang kalis inflasi seperti emas dan perak atau barang-barang yang mempunyai nilainya sendiri tanpa perlu diletakkan nilai perkara ini tidak akan terjadi. Peminjam juga disini harus peka yang mereka juga menyelamatkan wang mereka untuk membayar semula hutang dalam bentuk yang kalis dari inflasi.

Sekadar renungan bersama : )

Gold prices were steady on Monday, after the sharpest fall in four months in the previous session, as inflation concerns and sovereign debt issues in Europe offered support.  Spot gold was little changed at $US1366.95 an ounce, after falling three percent on Friday as talks of an imminent interest rates hike in China triggered a broad sell-off across the financial markets.

Debt woes in Europe continued to brew, with Ireland on Sunday saying it did not rule out the possibility that it may have to turn to Europe for help in dealing with its debt crisis.  Leadership meetings of the Group of 20 and APEC held last week largely failed to offer guidance on currency issues vexing the global economy.  "G20 and APEC meetings last week didn't really give a clear direction to the market," said Peter Fung, head of the dealing department at Wing Fung Precious Metals, "The market is mixed from here on, with today's range likely to be $US1350 to $US1380 today."  While some short-covering was spotted in the market, others were seen liquidating long positions, as the market takes a breather from the record-breaking rally, Fung said. 

Also offering support to the market, Vietnam has abolished the import duty on gold in another effort to cool domestic prices of the metal after it has granted gold import quotas last week, a state-run newspaper reported.  Spot gold is expected to fall more to $US1341 per ounce based on a bearish triangle pattern on the hourly chart, said Wang Tao, a Reuters market analyst.  "We may see some consolidation, but the overall trend is still looking up, as the Federal Reserve's second round of quantitative easing sets the tone for ample liquidity for the first half of 2011," said Li Ning, an analyst at Shanghai CIFCO Futures.  "We have seen a quite volatile market in the past week, as investors were nervous after prices hit record highs. We could see gold pull back to $US1330 to $US1350 level."  Li said a major factor in the market is China.

The world's largest gold producer and fast-growing gold consumer, saw its consumer inflation index jump to a 25-month high in October.  "While people are worried about inflation and have shown a growing appetite to invest in gold, a rate hike would knock prices down," said Li.  China should move to a more prudent monetary policy and guard against risks from loose money conditions used to counter the global financial crisis, a central bank researcher said.  The prospects of further tightening in China, together with euro zone debt woes, kept sentiment in the financial markets fragile.

Sumber : Utusan Malaysia

LONDON 8 Nov. - Ketua Bank Dunia, Robert Zoellick menggesa pemimpin-pemimpin ekonomi dunia mempertimbangkan penggunaan semula emas dalam sistem monetari sebagai pengukur dalam pergerakan mata wang. Beliau membuat cadangan itu kerana bimbang berlaku 'peperangan mata wang' dalam suratnya yang diterbitkan dalam Financial Times. Zoellick berkata, sistem itu perlu terlibat dalam dolar, euro, yen, pound dan renminbi yang kini diperdagangkan di peringkat antarabangsa.

''Sistem ini juga boleh mempertimbangkan penggunaan emas sebagai rujukan antarabangsa bagi jangkaan pasaran berkaitan inflasi, deflasi dan nilai mata wang hadapan,'' tambahnya. Amerika Syarikat (AS) kini semakin konsisten mengkritik China kerana menurunkan nilai renminbi dengan tujuan untuk mengambil faedah dalam pasaran eksport. Ekoran kritikan itu, China membalas balik dengan mencetak AS$600 bilion (RM1.8 trilion) duit baru sambil mendakwa untuk memberi AS kelebihan persaingan.

''Sekiranya polisi domestik adalah polisi optimum bagi AS, tetapi pada masa sama ia bukan polisi optimum bagi dunia, ia mungkin membawa banyak kesan negatif kepada dunia,'' menurut Ketua Bank Negara China, Zhou Xiaochuan. China melahirkan kebimbangan polisi monetari Rizab Persekutuan AS akan mengurangkan nilai dolar, menyebabkan eksport negara itu merosot. Berikutan itu, China menggesa pemantauan terhadap pergerakan dolar AS semasa mesyuarat G20 di Seoul pada minggu ini.

Standard emas dipinggirkan oleh bekas Presiden AS, Richard Nixon pada 1971 kerana nilai dolar jatuh menjunam berbanding emas. Emas dipercayai boleh membantu menangani inflasi tetapi ia tidak dibenarkan bagi polisi monetari fleksibel, yang mana kebanyakan pakar ekonomi mendakwa ia perlu dalam menangani kejutan ekonomi.

The spot price of gold rose to 1,403.88 dollars at 1720 GMT before reaching a new all-time high of 1,407.20 dollars at 1730 GMT.

Housewives huddle over jewellery counters in Yangon's bustling Chinatown, but fashion is not foremost on their minds. This is banking in Myanmar's dysfunctional economy.

On nearby Shwe Bontha Street, the heart of the gold market since colonial times, Nyan Tun is more than just a trader: he is an unofficial banker in the military-ruled country.

"Normally, the major buyers are farmers. They will buy gold with a little bit of extra money to sell before the next harvest," he said. "Second are the housewives, who love to buy jewellery as savings."

The global economic crisis may have reignited suspicion of banks worldwide, but in isolated Myanmar such distrust has long run deep and savers have no desire to put their money into the backward banking system.

Not that people have much to spare: decades of economic mismanagement by the country's rulers, plus international boycotts and sanctions, have generated a population struggling to get by and facing soaring consumer prices. Between 2005 and 2009 the annual inflation rate in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, averaged 20 percent, according to the Asian Development Bank.

"If you want to catch up with inflation, you buy gold. If you save money in the bank you lose money," said Nyan Tun.

"People have much more trust in gold as a store of value," added the trader, whose name AFP has changed at his request. In military-ruled Myanmar, saying anything seen as critical of the junta can have serious consequences. Nyan Tun said the value of a gold "tical" -- about half a troy ounce -- had increased more than 30-fold in the local currency, the kyat, since his early days as a gold trader in the late 1980s.

Sean Turnell, a specialist in Myanmar's economy at Macquarie University in Sydney, said rampant increases in consumer prices were largely a result of the government's habit of simply printing more money to fund its spending. An abundance of natural treasures -- including gold, gas, teak, oil, jade and gems -- could make the country a rich nation as it once was before coming under military rule in 1962. But Myanmar remains one of the world's least developed countries, with nearly a third of the population living below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures, as the junta and its associates exploit these raw materials for their own benefit.

"The fiscal situation should be good," said Turnell, on the basis that earnings from gas supplies should fund government spending. "But they (the military rulers) don't bring money they get from gas properly into public accounts," he said. "These funds are not recorded."

Few believe Myanmar's controversial first election in 20 years, due on November 7, will bring about much-needed economic reform, as the polls are widely expected to simply cloak military rule with civilian clothing. "The ruling class will still be the same, so there will not be big changes," said Nyan Tun, now in his 50s. However there have been some shifts in the economic landscape ahead of the election, with the junta instigating a spate of privatisations of state firms and properties.

Along with these sell-offs of assets including ports, factories and cinemas, four conglomerates on international sanctions lists and run by junta-friendly tycoons have been given licences to start up new banks. Turnell said the cronyism apparent in these recent developments suggested the country was "drifting in a really strange direction away from a totalitarian system into one that works like a semi-criminal economy".

For the average Myanmar citizen, there is still no economic stability, or decent alternative to their trustworthy treasure. "Gold has been the ultimate reserve asset, the ultimate insurance against bad government policy. It goes back to the colonial era -- it's seen as being dependable and independent of the state," said Turnell.

With the precious metal playing such a key role, the regime keeps a close eye on its trade. Nyan Tun said plain-clothed special branch police lurk on Shwe Bontha Street and pressure traders to stop selling when prices go up. "Maybe the government thinks inflation is due to the price of gold, but actually it's the other way round," he said. "The gold price is the index of inflation to citizens," agreed a business editor in Yangon who did not want to be named. "People don't know how else to judge inflation. The government gives no explanation."

Myanmar's banking system has never really recovered from a major crisis in 2003, which saw three banks completely collapse and was exacerbated by the policies of the Central Bank (CBSU.PK - news) , such as recalling loans from borrowers. People have also been hit hard in the past when the authorities scrapped certain currency units as legal tender. A mass uprising against the military in 1988, which was brutally crushed, escalated from protests over a major episode of demonetisation by the regime.

"That wiped out the savings of a huge amount of people," said Turnell. "I have never come across a single Burmese person who saves money in the banks." For now gold remains the safest haven in Myanmar -- the reason why a fishmonger will wear her savings around her neck.

"Gold: this is the only thing people trust," said the business editor.

Start saving even if only 1 gram a month and you will never regret it : )