Experts urge Sjahril to resign

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.