Green light?

Who is Hubert Neiss kidding when he stated on Nov. 5, 1999 (as reported in the Nov. 7 issue of The Jakarta Post) after ending his one-week visit to Jakarta: "The Bank Bali scandal is resolved. Now the international (investment) community can come in to work with the new government"?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) director for Asia Pacific should know better. The Bank Bali scandal is far from being resolved; the full PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report thereon has only been released to the Commission II and IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives who are set to conduct their own investigations.

Maybe the IMF -- for some unfathomable reason -- wishes to sweep this scandal under the rug but the Abdurrahman Wahid government certainly cannot afford to and the international investment community most certainly is not willing to.

Who knows how many similar situations exist within other banks? Moreover, Mr. Neiss does a great disservice to all those attempting to promote positive reform within Indonesia's trouble- plagued banking sector as well as to what little high regard the IMF still enjoys. The foreign investment community, in the final analysis, will respond favorably only when there is more tangible proof that remedial action has been taken.

DAVID K.

Jakarta