Our ailing banks

For a long time the disorder that exists in our national banking system has been worrying us. Sixteen banks have been liquidated, seven have had their ownerships taken over by the government and dozens more have been placed under the care of the Indonesian Banking Restructuring Agency (IBRA).

Now we are shocked to learn that the amount of government (Bank Indonesia) money spent on assisting those ailing banks has already surpassed the hundred trillion rupiah threshold, and we can be practically certain that the Rp 109 trillion mark will be further exceeded, among other things to save Bank Central Asia (BCA) from total bankruptcy after the run by its depositors.

Since a lack of trust is at the core of the problem, it would be appropriate for us to concentrate our efforts to find a way out of our banking system's predicament on this particular area. Efforts of a technical nature -- such as lending assistance to ailing banks -- must be continued. At the same time, however, we must try to meet respond to the public's aspirations and respond to their sense of justice.

We believe that, for anyone who has misappropriated public money and violated the people's rights, the existing legal channels offer the best means to correct their wrongs.

-- Kompas, Jakarta