BI's accountability

BI's accountability

Amendment of law No. 23/1999 on Bank Indonesia (BI) has been
delayed for a couple of year mainly due to BI's board of
governors' insistence in rejecting the Minister of Finance's
proposal to set up a supervisory board which would oversee the
performance of this country's central bank.

The Jakarta Post of Oct. 14 edition quoted the minister of
finance as saying that the importance of setting up a supervisory
board of governors was in a bid to strike a balance between the
central bank's independence and its accountability.

What stuns us was BI's response that the plan be postponed by
at least five years. This means that the existing law which puts
the board of governors' accountability almost untouchable, would
not be shifted for at least five years.

It is quite a pity that an independent and prestigious
institution in monetary sector like BI could not lead the
country to be more accountable and transparent to the public.
Moreover as this institution is now under Burhanuddin Abdullah's
governorship, a person who once had worked at IMF headquarters
for years, could have led his institution to be the champion of
good governance.

Keeping this mind, one may guess that the BI's rejection to
endorse the Minister of Finance's plan would end up in financial
misappropriation, and therefore the country's program of
eradicating corruption leads to nowhere and may prolong for at
least five years, if it could ever be started.

M. RUSDI
Jakarta