Indonesia to miss Lin Che Wei
Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
It is a bit of an irony that just as the stock market is surging again, a market analyst of the caliber of Lin Che Wei is pulled out of Indonesia.
Reeling from poor business last year, SG Securities shut down its Jakarta office and made Che Wei its director of corporate finance in Singapore.
Here however Che Wei's sharp analyses and his belief in principles have presented the public with a glaring view of how corruption works inside the business and political establishments.
As the former SG president director for Indonesia has shown, a good analysis often requires digging the dirt out of companies.
"Everybody can (recommend) buy or sell, its easy, but to get insight of what will happen to an investment is not," he told The Jakarta Post.
Che Wei was the first to predict the fall of Asia Pulp & Paper Company Ltd (APP), a company based in Singapore, listed in New York and cheered by many as the exception among Indonesia's crisis-ridden companies. Or so how it appeared to be.
APP over borrowed and announced a suspension of payment on its debts worth US$13.9 billion, in what is now the largest default in emerging markets' history.
Unearthing the dirt of high-profile firms and government policies eventually landed Che Wei a spot in the media where his sharp writing extended from SG's research reports to the front pages of the country's largest paper, the daily Kompas.
At the age 33, Che Wei's career has been as fast paced as the world he lives in.
While studying industrial engineering at the Trisakti University, he found that he was more attracted to balance sheets than he was to blueprints.
"I always liked the world of finance, its Wall Street, the fast lane. And I like to analyze," Che Wei said.
After graduating from Trisakti in 1991, he took a joint scholarship from the Asian Development Bank and the government of Japan for a masters degree in finance at the National University of Singapore.
When he graduated in 1994, Indonesia's bullish stock market inflated demand for stock analyses, opening the door wide for newcomers like Che Wei.
At age 26 he started out as a research analyst for securities firm WI Carr Indonesia. In less than a year he was the associate director for Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.
At 27 he rose to Socgen Crosby's research director, and a year later in 1998 Che Wei entered SG Securities Indonesia.
There he became its regional banking analyst and in 2000 its president director until SG pulled out.
His first breakthrough came early. In 1994, freshman Che Wei pointed at loan abuses at the now defunct Bank Dagang Negara Indonesia (BDNI), earning him recognition among his peers.
In 1998, by then already a frequent market commentator, he disclosed flaws in a debt settlement scheme to recoup billions of U.S. dollars in taxpayers' money from indebted former bankers.
The government went ahead with the scheme only to find out four years later that most of the money had not been recovered.
At the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX), some Che Wei digging ended up with PT Lippo E-Net paying a hefty Rp 5 billion for misleading investors.
Che Wei is among the few analysts whose comments have produced enough public pressure to get companies to improve their behavior.
The Capital Market Supervisory Agency began penalizing companies that before had been the JSX's darlings.
On another front, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) frequently found itself coming under attack by Che Wei.
He raised public awareness of possible collusion in IBRA's sale of PT Indomobil Sukses International, which prompted the Business Competition Supervisory Commission to launch a probe.
Che Wei helped uncovered politicking inside IBRA hampering the important sale of Bank Central Asia (BCA).
Indomobil and BCA were reportedly among the reasons behind the recent sacking of IBRA's chairman I Putu Gede Ary Suta.
As Che Wei's influence grew so did the temptation to get him to keep his mouth shut. "You have to be financially independent to afford being idealistic."
There is more to it. He does not say it but Che Wei is one of the few who are on a crusade to rid the country of corruption.
He calls his friends "partners" in the struggle.
"No, the mission is far from accomplished," Che Wei said looking back at his work. "But I hope that at least companies would think twice before pulling any stunts again."
For now it appears that the ouster of Ary Suta from IBRA may be the last act bearing Che Wei's mark.
He tried to resist moving to Singapore, offering SG instead to buy out its operation in Indonesia. The plan never came through.
"I am looking for a vehicle to come back," he said.
In the meantime, he said he would continue to research the Indonesian market, reasoning that with fewer foreign securities firms the country lacked exposure to international markets.
"I like to get Indonesia back into investors' radars," Che Wei said. And hopefully he stays in touch with his crusade and his partners in struggle.