'Billy' Joedono inspires trust

'Billy' Joedono inspires trust

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Satrio "Billy" Joedono is proud to be an honest man, and
nobody, not even his enemies -- if he has any -- would dare to
argue with him on this. But the important point is that he is an
honest and humble man who enjoys life; he listens to music, he
hangs out with his friends and he is rather partial to the odd
glass of alcohol.

When he was a Cabinet minister, he lived in a modest apartment
which he bought during his stint as a lecturer at the University
of Indonesia (UI). It did not have a garage to house the classy
Volvo car the government provided, so a driver had to park the
car and wait for him in an alley every morning. He was often seen
carrying an old brown leather bag during that time.

"I felt a certain pride coming out from the alley in the B
20," he said, referring to the police registration number that
was reserved for Cabinet ministers. Billy chuckled at the memory
as he talked to The Jakarta Post in his spacious office in the
Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) building on Jl. Gatot Subroto No. 31,
Central Jakarta.

It was in 1993, that the Soeharto administration appointed
him the highest position in the Ministry of Trade, which at that
time was separate from the Ministry of Industry.

Even though he and his wife Ani Chaerani, whom he married in
1970, now live in a bigger house in the affluent Patra Kuningan
neighborhood, he has not changed much. He still wears a dull
brown uniform to the office and rarely uses his mobile phone.

Billy bought the house at a discounted price in a dilapidated
condition shortly before he left for Paris in 1996. He borrowed
money from a friend to help pay for the house. Later, when he
became an ambassador and was paid in foreign currency, he reaped
a windfall profit from the fast weakening rupiah and "we could
repay our debt to our friend in full."

Billy was sent to Paris as an ambassador after he was
dismissed in 1995, after only two years of service with the
Ministry of Trade. His dismissal drew attention from the press,
prompting many questions as Cabinet ministers usually hold their
position for at least five years.

Many people nicknamed him "Mr. Clean" for his courage in
fighting corruption, collusion and nepotism in his ministry
during Soeharto's administration. Not many government officials,
then or now, can boast of such a respectable nickname, given the
fact that the power which they hold gives them ample opportunity
to be corrupt.

"Billy is a friend with whom we enjoy fun times. But as a
koneksi (a friend who has power), he is useless," said Nono Anwar
Makarim, laughing. Nono, an international law expert and a
founder of the Aksara Foundation (which promotes reading but is
no relation to the bookstore of the same name), has known Billy
for about 40 years. He remembers asking Billy, who was then
Assistant to the Coordinating Minister for Economic and Financial
Affairs, Radius Prawiro, to talk to the minister about making an
accessible registry on company data.

"He said that he did not feel comfortable about using his
position to help his friends, even for good," Nono told the Post.
"I didn't even ask the ministry to fund the project. I promised
to find the funds from donors if the government approved, yet he
refused."

He recalled the time when he was visiting Paris and met up
with Billy. As one of Billy's drinking buddies he expected to
partake in an expensive wine. Instead, Billy served him cheap
wine called pastisse, saying "this is what poor intellectuals
drink." He mixed the wine with iced water.

"Billy is no snob. People see him as a collection of extinct
norms... integrity... a strict boundary between what belongs to
him and what belongs to the public," said Nono.

Born on Dec. 1, 1940 in Pangkalpinang, Bangka Belitung
province, Billy was raised in an educated Javanese family. His
father was a doctor who was often moved from province to province
on tours of duty. He was first formally educated in an elementary
school -- Pangkalpinang -- with a Dutch headmaster.

"When he filled out the registration form, my father wrote my
full name as Satrio Budihardjo Joedono, and my nickname as
Gembili. That was what he called me at home," he said. "Gembili
in the Javanese language are small, round and black-skinned
potatoes. And I was indeed round and black at that time."

Because the Dutch headmaster had difficulty in pronouncing
"Gembili" the nickname became "Billy."

From Pangkalpinang his family moved to other provinces and
Billy spent his high school and university years in Jakarta. In
1963 he graduated from the Faculty of Economics at UI and the
following year received a scholarship for a post graduate degree
at the United States' University of Pittsburgh. After completing
the post graduate degree he commenced a doctorate in 1966 from
New York State University in Albany, majoring in state
administration. It was around the time when the flower-power
generation was blooming and Billy, of course, did not miss out on
the fun.

"I listened to The Doors, Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan," he said
grinning. "When I went back to Indonesia I was famous as the
lecturer who wore jeans and had long hair, but still held a
doctorate degree."

From being an academic, he shifted to a career in the
government, starting in 1970 as an assistant to the trade
minister. Later, from 1986 to 1988, he was assistant to B.J.
Habibie, then the research and technology minister.

His close relationship to Habibie gave rise to doubts when in
1998 he was appointed the head of the National Audit Agency
(BPK), right after Habibie replaced Soeharto as president.

But doubts were erased when he proved his independence in
dealing with the Bank Bali case, in which Habibie was allegedly
involved.

Up to this day, people still respect him as an authority in
the fight against corruption in the country.

As the only head of BPK to hold the position during the
leadership of three presidents -- namely Habibie, Abdurrahman
Wahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri -- he concludes that all three
lack the willpower to curb corruption.

"Many of the country's leaders think that governing gives them
the right to impose taxes. They act like pre-modern era kings,"
he said.

However, he still believes that corruption can be curbed by
setting up a clean system and strict rules. He has not given up
yet.

"I see my position in BPK as a trust that the people have
bestowed on me," he said. "When I was newly elected as head of
BPK, I visited the BPK representative office in Makassar and said
my Friday prayers at the mosque in that city."

"After praying, when I put on my shoes, somebody behind me
touched my shoulder, saying 'Pak, please safeguard the people's
money. Until now I haven't got the faintest idea who the person
was.... He was a face in the crowd, but I took his words as the
people's will."

"I've been keeping that in mind during my five years here. And
if I'm appointed again as the head of BPK after this five year
term, I will still keep that in mind."