Indonesia to miss Lin Che Wei

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.