Experts urge Sjahril to resign

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Experts urged Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin to resign from his post after a court sentenced him on Wednesday to three years in jail over the 1999 Bank Bali scandal.

But Sjahril, who has appealed the verdict, vowed to stay in office.

According to the Bank Indonesia law, the central bank governor, or a deputy governor, must resign if he or she has been found guilty by a court of having committed a crime. Should the governor resign in such circumstances, the senior deputy governor would temporarily assume the governorship until the House of Representatives selected a new governor.

"For the sake of Bank Indonesia's credibility, Sjahril should resign because he has been convicted by the court," said the chairman of the House budget commission, Benny Pasaribu.

Benny's commission is responsible for selecting the central bank governor and senior deputy governor.

"In this case, we should no longer be concerned with the Bank Indonesia law. It's a moral question," Benny added.

Prominent legal expert Todung Mulya Lubis said that since Sjahril had filed an appeal, Wednesday's court verdict had yet to enter into permanent legal effect. Thus, there was no obligation for Sjahril to step down from his post.

"So it now becomes an ethical issue," Todung said.

"Does the governor of Bank Indonesia still feel capable of doing his job after such a court verdict has been issued? If I were in his position, I would choose to resign ... because if not it will have a (negative) psychological impact on the banking sector."

University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) economist Sri Adiningsih concurred, saying that Sjahril should at least make himself non- active until such time as the legal process had been completed.

She said that it would be difficult for Bank Indonesia to fulfill its functions, including designing monetary policy, when its governor had been found guilty of graft by a court of law.

Under the Indonesian legal system, the appeal process could take years before being completed.

Sjahril, who has not been taken into custody, insisted that there must be a final legal decision first before his dismissal.

This means that Sjahril would still be in charge of Bank Indonesia for the next couple of years.

Sjahril was appointed as Bank Indonesia governor under the new central bank law in 1999 for a five-year term.

The Bank Bali case centered around the illegal transfer of some US$80 million from the ailing bank to a company linked to the then ruling Golkar Party, funds which some said were used to help finance president B.J. Habibie's reelection campaign.

The court said Sjahril was guilty of facilitating the transfer of the funds. Sjahril has denied all wrongdoing.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid had attempted to unseat Sjahril in 2000 in a bid to rid the central bank of past corrupt practices.

The government at the time proposed an amendment to the central bank law which would lead to the reelection of the central bank board of governors. But the attempt failed after many including the International Monetary Fund criticized the plan as jeopardizing the central bank's hard won independency.