House set to select new central bank deputy chief

Dadan Wijaksana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

One week after Burhanuddin Abdullah was elected as the new governor of Bank Indonesia (BI), the House of Representatives is set to select a new deputy governor to replace Miranda S. Goeltom, whose term ended on May 17.

Max Moein, the chairman of House Commission IX in charge of the selection process, pledged it would complete the process by Monday night following the fit and proper test of three candidates.

"The process would be similar to that of last week's when we screened the candidates for the (central bank) governor. We'll wrap it up by Monday night to be reported to a plenary session the next day," Max told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Just like last week, the commission will have to filter the winner out of three candidates, the list of which was submitted by previous Bank Indonesia governor Sjahril Sabirin to the House in February.

Unlike the candidates for governor or senior deputy governor, which have to be nominated by the president, the nominees for Bank Indonesia's deputy governors are proposed by the governor, according to Law No. 23/1999 on Bank Indonesia.

The candidates -- namely Siti C. Fadjriah, Hartadi Sarwono and Bambang Sindumurti -- are all currently active employees at the central bank.

While Siti and Bambang are directors in the central bank, Hartadi is head of Bank Indonesia's office in Tokyo.

Max also said that the central bank's performance would not be affected by the fact that the post had been left vacant for a couple of days by the time the election process is concluded.

"It's only for a few days, I do not think it would affect the performance since there are still other active deputies in the (central) bank available to fill the gap," Max said.

Based on a presidential decree, Miranda's tenure lasted for four years. Miranda, one of the losing candidates for the Bank Indonesia governorship, had held the post since May 17, 1999.

Miranda's successor will be working side by side with Burhanuddin along with the four other deputy governors, all being members of the central bank's board of governors. The current active deputies are Anwar Nasution (senior deputy governor), Aulia Pohan, Maman H. Soemantri and Maulana Ibrahim.

The law allows Bank Indonesia to have between four to seven deputy governors.

While the selection for the deputy governor will not be as high-profile as it was last week, hopes remain high that a credible person with a proven track record wins the job.

Citibank economist Anton Gunawan stressed the importance of a high level of qualification for the position, especially now that the central bank had a new head.

"The effectiveness of Burhanuddin as BI's new governor would also depend on how his aides perform. So, this process to elect a new deputy is just as important as the governor's election itself," Anton said.

Of all the candidates, it remains unclear so far as to who has the strongest chance of winning.

But since all come from within the bank -- meaning that each has years of experience and deep knowledge in the monetary field -- the market would likely except whoever emerges victorious.