House set to select new central bank deputy chief

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.