'No new candidates for BI governor'

JAKARTA: President Megawati Soekarnoputri will not add any names to the list of candidates for Central Bank governor given the absence of an official request from the House of Representatives (DPR).

State Secretary Bambang Kesowo said on Wednesday that the presidential office would only respond to an official request from the House.

"To my knowledge, additional candidates can only be requested by several legislators and not the House," he said.

The President has nominated Miranda Goeltom, Burhanuddin Abdullah and Cyrillus Hernowo as the next Bank of Indonesia governor to replace Sjahril Sabirin.

Several legislators said that none of the three were qualified enough for the respected position and asked the government to add more names to the list of candidates.

The House is now in recess and no schedule has been set for the election of the new BI governor in the upcoming session, which will start late this month.--JP