Green light?

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