Analysts back Gus Dur on removing Sjahril

Analysts back Gus Dur on removing Sjahril

JAKARTA (JP): Analysts support President Abdurrahman Wahid's
move to replace Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin, but
major factions at the House of Representatives have yet to give a
response to his proposal.

Pande Raja Silalahi of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies and Lulu Harsono, president of Bank Pikko,
said on Thursday it was high time to reshuffle Bank Indonesia's
board of governors, including the governor, to restore its
credibility.

"They should be reshuffled, or at least moved aside. This is
necessary to restore the central bank's credibility," Pande Raja
said.

He said what President Abdurrahman had done was right, and the
House should respond quickly to minimize possible damage to the
central bank following the announcement of the damning audit
report on BI by the Supreme Audit Agency.

"The House should not wait until the completion of the
investigative audit on the central bank. The proposal (to
reshuffle the board of governors) is not based solely on the
audit, but on the spirit to clean up BI," he said.

Lulu shared Pande Raja's argument and said that Bank
Indonesia, under the current management, was still not
transparent, as demanded by the central bank law.

"If you ask me should the Bank Indonesia governor be replaced,
I would say yes, he must be replaced. In fact, he should have
been replaced long ago, before all these things got worse," he
said.

Former Bank Indonesia director I. Nyoman Moena, however,
disagreed and said that neither the government nor the House of
Representatives could remove members of Bank Indonesia's board of
governors with reasons not mentioned in the central bank law.

Moena said that according the law, the BI governor and deputy
governors could be removed from their positions only when their
terms expired, when they tendered their resignations, when they
suffered disabilities that make them unable to perform their
duties or when they were found guilty of committing criminal
acts.

"No one can remove members of the board of governors. Only
with those four conditions, can the President and the House
remove the governor and deputy governors," he said.

The writers of the law, he said, deliberately made it
difficult for anyone to fire members of BI's board of governors
with one aim: to uphold the central bank's independency so that
no single political power could shake its independency.

Meanwhile, major House factions moved cautiously in response
to President Abdurrahman's proposal, saying that they must stick
to the central bank law.

Syamsul Muarif, chairman of the Golkar Party faction, said his
faction would not give a response to the President's proposal
until the investigative audit on BI was completed.

"Only when irregularities are found, can the House propose
candidates to replace BI governor Sjahril Sabirin and my faction
will be strict on that," he said.

He conceded that two names, BI senior deputy governor Anwar
Nasution and deputy governor Dono Iskandar, had been spread among
House members but said the House was open to others who were
considered capable and credible for the position.

Sukowaluyo Mintohardjo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction concurred, and said his faction
would replace Sabirin and other governors only if irregularities
were found in the audit.

Sukowaluyo, also chairman of the House's Commission IX for
finance and the state budget, said the House would maintain its
control function to supervise the government and also the central
bank.

"This is the first time the House has had to take action
against the alleged irregularities in the central bank."

A.M. Fatwa, House deputy speaker from the reform faction, said
his faction would not interfere in any problems in the
bureaucracy and the central bank and that it had no suitable
candidates for the top position.

Fatwa said his faction would support the proposal if the
Supreme Audit Agency and the House's commission for finance and
the state budget followed up the alleged irregularities.
(rms/rid)