Temenggung appointed as new IBRA chief
Temenggung appointed as new IBRA chief
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Months of speculation ended Friday when the government fired I
Putu Gede Ary Suta as the chairman of the powerful Indonesian
Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA), replacing him with Syafruddin
A. Temenggung.
The decision will make Temenggung the seventh IBRA chairman in
just over four years.
State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi
confirmed the reshuffle on Friday after keeping quite over the
issue since news of it leaked about two months ago.
"I confirm that it was decided yesterday (Thursday) to
replace the head of IBRA, " Laksamana told reporters in a signing
ceremony with the Coordinating Investment Board (BKPM).
According to him the reshuffle is routine, but analysts have
long said Ary Suta's bent for controversial decisions would cost
him his job one day.
The outgoing chairman drew fire for policies that appear to
favor conglomerates, and for overriding procedures at IBRA to
shortcut bureaucracy but what some officials at the agency said
was to seize more control.
Laksamana said changes at IBRA's leadership were needed to
ensure what he called "built in control".
Whoever chairs IBRA will have authority over some Rp 600
trillion (about US$63 billion) worth of state assets under IBRA.
The assets were taken over when IBRA bailed out local banks
from the devastating impact of the late 90's financial crisis.
Getting the assets back to work is key to revitalize a
struggling private sector - once a pillar of economic growth but
whose debts have turned now into a liability to the state budget.
In spite of this urgency, progress on IBRA's asset sales have
been painstakingly slow with only two years left before its 1998
mandate expires.
Against this backdrop comes Temenggung's appointment.
The secretary to the Financial Sector Policy Committee (FSPC),
which oversees Rp 1 trillion (about US$106 million) worth debt
restructuring deals and asset sales at IBRA, Temenggung is no
stranger to the problems pressing the agency.
He helped negotiate deals with tough creditors such as Japan's
Marubeni Corps, with which IBRA was in talks to settle debts of
petrochemical giant PT Chandra Asri.
Temenggung is supervising the settlement of around $10 billion
in debts by some of the country's large conglomerates, who have
been neglecting payment over the past four years.
On the downside, analysts said, was his lack of practical
knowledge in the restructuring of banks and debts.
His little known track record and lack of political clout
could also spell trouble in a place where political undercurrent
run strong, they said.
His appointment made few waves in trading at the currency
market, with one analyst at a foreign bank saying that attention
was slim.
The rupiah gained to 9,360 but more on news of an imminent
disbursement of around $400 million in aid from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), he said.