'Billy' Joedono inspires trust<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Satrio \"Billy\" Joedono is proud to be an honest man, and
\nnobody, not even his enemies -- if he has any -- would dare to
\nargue with him on this. But the important point is that he is an
\nhonest and humble man who enjoys life; he listens to music, he
\nhangs out with his friends and he is rather partial to the odd
\nglass of alcohol.<\/p>\n
When he was a Cabinet minister, he lived in a modest apartment
\nwhich he bought during his stint as a lecturer at the University
\nof Indonesia (UI). It did not have a garage to house the classy
\nVolvo car the government provided, so a driver had to park the
\ncar and wait for him in an alley every morning. He was often seen
\ncarrying an old brown leather bag during that time.<\/p>\n
\"I felt a certain pride coming out from the alley in the B
\n20,\" he said, referring to the police registration number that
\nwas reserved for Cabinet ministers. Billy chuckled at the memory
\nas he talked to The Jakarta Post in his spacious office in the
\nSupreme Audit Agency (BPK) building on Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 31,
\nCentral Jakarta.<\/p>\n
It was in 1993, that the Soeharto administration appointed
\nhim the highest position in the Ministry of Trade, which at that
\ntime was separate from the Ministry of Industry.<\/p>\n
Even though he and his wife Ani Chaerani, whom he married in
\n1970, now live in a bigger house in the affluent Patra Kuningan
\nneighborhood, he has not changed much. He still wears a dull
\nbrown uniform to the office and rarely uses his mobile phone.<\/p>\n
Billy bought the house at a discounted price in a dilapidated
\ncondition shortly before he left for Paris in 1996. He borrowed
\nmoney from a friend to help pay for the house. Later, when he
\nbecame an ambassador and was paid in foreign currency, he reaped
\na windfall profit from the fast weakening rupiah and \"we could
\nrepay our debt to our friend in full.\"<\/p>\n
Billy was sent to Paris as an ambassador after he was
\ndismissed in 1995, after only two years of service with the
\nMinistry of Trade. His dismissal drew attention from the press,
\nprompting many questions as Cabinet ministers usually hold their
\nposition for at least five years.<\/p>\n
Many people nicknamed him \"Mr. Clean\" for his courage in
\nfighting corruption, collusion and nepotism in his ministry
\nduring Soeharto's administration. Not many government officials,
\nthen or now, can boast of such a respectable nickname, given the
\nfact that the power which they hold gives them ample opportunity
\nto be corrupt.<\/p>\n
\"Billy is a friend with whom we enjoy fun times. But as a
\nkoneksi (a friend who has power), he is useless,\" said Nono Anwar
\nMakarim, laughing. Nono, an international law expert and a
\nfounder of the Aksara Foundation (which promotes reading but is
\nno relation to the bookstore of the same name), has known Billy
\nfor about 40 years. He remembers asking Billy, who was then
\nAssistant to the Coordinating Minister for Economic and Financial
\nAffairs, Radius Prawiro, to talk to the minister about making an
\naccessible registry on company data.<\/p>\n
\"He said that he did not feel comfortable about using his
\nposition to help his friends, even for good,\" Nono told the Post.
\n\"I didn't even ask the ministry to fund the project. I promised
\nto find the funds from donors if the government approved, yet he
\nrefused.\"<\/p>\n
He recalled the time when he was visiting Paris and met up
\nwith Billy. As one of Billy's drinking buddies he expected to
\npartake in an expensive wine. Instead, Billy served him cheap
\nwine called pastisse, saying \"this is what poor intellectuals
\ndrink.\" He mixed the wine with iced water.<\/p>\n
\"Billy is no snob. People see him as a collection of extinct
\nnorms... integrity... a strict boundary between what belongs to
\nhim and what belongs to the public,\" said Nono.<\/p>\n
Born on Dec. 1, 1940 in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung
\nprovince, Billy was raised in an educated Javanese family. His
\nfather was a doctor who was often moved from province to province
\non tours of duty. He was first formally educated in an elementary
\nschool -- Pangkalpinang -- with a Dutch headmaster.<\/p>\n
\"When he filled out the registration form, my father wrote my
\nfull name as Satrio Budihardjo Joedono, and my nickname as
\nGembili. That was what he called me at home,\" he said. \"Gembili
\nin the Javanese language are small, round and black-skinned
\npotatoes. And I was indeed round and black at that time.\"<\/p>\n
Because the Dutch headmaster had difficulty in pronouncing
\n\"Gembili\" the nickname became \"Billy.\"<\/p>\n
From Pangkalpinang his family moved to other provinces and
\nBilly spent his high school and university years in Jakarta. In
\n1963 he graduated from the Faculty of Economics at UI and the
\nfollowing year received a scholarship for a post graduate degree
\nat the United States' University of Pittsburgh. After completing
\nthe post graduate degree he commenced a doctorate in 1966 from
\nNew York State University in Albany, majoring in state
\nadministration. It was around the time when the flower-power
\ngeneration was blooming and Billy, of course, did not miss out on
\nthe fun.<\/p>\n
\"I listened to The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan,\" he said
\ngrinning. \"When I went back to Indonesia I was famous as the
\nlecturer who wore jeans and had long hair, but still held a
\ndoctorate degree.\"<\/p>\n
From being an academic, he shifted to a career in the
\ngovernment, starting in 1970 as an assistant to the trade
\nminister. Later, from 1986 to 1988, he was assistant to B.J.
\nHabibie, then the research and technology minister.<\/p>\n
His close relationship to Habibie gave rise to doubts when in
\n1998 he was appointed the head of the National Audit Agency
\n(BPK), right after Habibie replaced Soeharto as president.<\/p>\n
But doubts were erased when he proved his independence in
\ndealing with the Bank Bali case, in which Habibie was allegedly
\ninvolved.<\/p>\n
Up to this day, people still respect him as an authority in
\nthe fight against corruption in the country.<\/p>\n
As the only head of BPK to hold the position during the
\nleadership of three presidents -- namely Habibie, Abdurrahman
\nWahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri -- he concludes that all three
\nlack the willpower to curb corruption.<\/p>\n
\"Many of the country's leaders think that governing gives them
\nthe right to impose taxes. They act like pre-modern era kings,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
However, he still believes that corruption can be curbed by
\nsetting up a clean system and strict rules. He has not given up
\nyet.<\/p>\n
\"I see my position in BPK as a trust that the people have
\nbestowed on me,\" he said. \"When I was newly elected as head of
\nBPK, I visited the BPK representative office in Makassar and said
\nmy Friday prayers at the mosque in that city.\"<\/p>\n
\"After praying, when I put on my shoes, somebody behind me
\ntouched my shoulder, saying 'Pak, please safeguard the people's
\nmoney. Until now I haven't got the faintest idea who the person
\nwas.... He was a face in the crowd, but I took his words as the
\npeople's will.\"<\/p>\n
\"I've been keeping that in mind during my five years here. And
\nif I'm appointed again as the head of BPK after this five year
\nterm, I will still keep that in mind.\"<\/p>",
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