>> "New fintech startups must present themselves before the Indonesian Ulema Council .. composed of religious clerics"
But later we learn LinkAja "building the first Sharia mobile money product in Indonesia". So obviously thats not exactly true.
>> embedded in the DNA of the app was Fatwa No. 116 and the fingerprints of three Sharia clerics.
Well obviously. If you want to build a halal certified banking product it has to be implement syariah principles, thats the point.
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For context the banking system here is dominated by conventional banking, with syariah banking assets tiny in comparison (Rp424 trillion Vs Rp7.4 quadrillion [0]). There is demand for Syariah products, Indonesia has the largest muslim population in the world, hence LinkAja and others looking at it as a way to service this demand. Some people build syariah products for a desire to see Syariah financing implemented as they believe its better, some as its core to their beliefs, some for money.
The VP supports syariah banking, of course. But for context in reality Its a bit of struggle for them (hence the big initiatives), ie not some secret agenda being forced from above.
As for the merits of syariah VS conventional you'll need to research yourself. And if you really want to -OMG- talk to an islamic scholar then fire ahead. You wont exactly get far ignoring one side of the debate. There is also an interesting discussion on whether "regular" syariah banking products are normal ones wrapped in a compliant way, as others have touched upon here. And of course a macro-discussion on the problems with financing & banking ethics by people of all & no faiths.
[0] https://databoks.katadata.co.id/datapublish/2019/09/20/berap....