Bank liquidations spark uncertainty

JAKARTA (JP): Many people are leading miserable and uncertain lives in the wake of the government closing 16 unhealthy banks Saturday.

Staff of the liquidated banks are worried about their future employment, while the institutions' customers are scared they might lose their precious money.

Dozens of employees of Bank Andromeda's Cikini branch in Central Jakarta flocked to the bank at 8 a.m. yesterday, but nobody got into the building.

Many of them could not believe that their office had been shut down.

"I don't know why it could happen to Andromeda. It's beyond our expectation," an employee named Andrian told The Jakarta Post.

He said he could accept the fact that he would not be employed by the bank anymore but hoped the bank would give proper severance payments to its employees.

"I'll find another job, maybe not in a bank. That's life," Andrian said.

A female RCTI reporter, who had held an account at Bank Andromeda's head office in Wisma Barito Pacific in Central Jakarta, said she was worried about the fate of her paycheck.

"I cannot get this month's salary," she told the Post. She said that many television station employees might not get their salaries this month due to the bank's liquidation.

She said that the bank was the official bank for private television stations RCTI, SCTV and TPI. Those firms paid their employees' salaries through it.

Another worried customer, Danny Tanuwijaya, said he went to his bank, Bank Industri, to make sure that his company's deposits could be withdrawn without hassle.

"I received a note from Bandung, saying a customer transferred Rp 40 million (US$11,428) to us on Thursday. Too bad I didn't have the chance to cash it earlier," said Danny, a director of PT Alter Abadi

"There is another Rp 10 million which was to be used to pay my employees' salaries," said Danny.

He said he became a customer of the bank three years ago because his office moved to Central Jakarta.

"How was I to know that my bank would collapse like this. I wish I had known," he said.

Customers of the liquidated are allowed to withdraw their money at particular government banks on Oct. 13.

A customer of one of BHS' branches in Bogor, West Java, said, "If I cannot get all my money back, I will destroy this building." (team)