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)