Soeharto dismisses four BI directors
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto dismissed four Bank Indonesia directors and replaced them with two outsiders and two others from the central bank, according to a presidential decree issued yesterday.
Presidential Decree No. 352/M 1997, dated Dec. 20, stated that Hendrobudiyanto, the director responsible for private foreign exchange bank supervision, Paul Soetopo Tjokoronegoro, director of market operations, Heru Soepraptomo, director of legal affairs and Mansjurdin Nurdin, director for the supervision of private non-foreign exchange banks, were honorably dismissed from their positions.
However, Soeharto still kept the three other directors: Boediono, Haryono and Mukhlis Rasjid.
Soeharto said the four directors were replaced based on a letter from the minister of finance, dated Dec. 19.
They were replaced by Iwan R. Prawiranata, the president director of state-run Bank Bumi Daya (BBD), Miranda S. Gultom, the deputy assistant for monetary affairs to the coordinating minister for economy and finance, Sjahril Sabirin, former Bank Indonesia director, and Aulia Pohan, from the central bank's internal resources research and development department.
Soeharto said the four new directors met all requirements to become a central bank director.
Iwan R. Prawiranata, 55, has extensive experience in the banking industry. Before holding BBD presidency, Iwan was president of state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI); and before that, he was president of state-owned Bank Expor Impor Indonesia (Exim).
Iwan, according to Panji Masyarakat magazine, started his career at Bank Exim in 1969 when the bank was first established. About 20 years later, Iwan was appointed president of the bank.
Iwan, a graduate of Bandung-based Padjajaran University, was then assigned to lead BRI in 1992, and then BBD.
Syahril Sabirin was a Bank Indonesia director from 1988 to 1993. He was then transferred to Washington DC to represent Bank Indonesia at the World Bank.
Miranda S. Gultom, 48, has been an active lecturer and researcher since she graduated from the University of Indonesia's School of Economics in 1973.
She is also a productive columnist and writer and a highly popular speaker. She wrote the book Indonesia's Financial Liberalization: An empirical Analysis of 1980-1988 Panel Data.
Miranda got her M.A. degree in political economics and Ph.D. in economics from Boston University.
She was a consultant with various international organizations, including the World Bank in Washington DC, the Asian Development Bank in Manila and the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok.
In 1993, Miranda was appointed deputy assistant to the coordinating minister for economy and finance.
Aulia Pohan is a new face. Before being promoted as a central bank director, he was head of the central bank's research and development department. (prb/rid)