The BI saga

The BI saga

Money, power, greed and political blackmail. This is the stuff
that Jeffrey Archer's best-selling political novels are made of.
These elements exist in the long-running confrontation between
Bank Indonesia Governor Sjahril Sabirin and President Abdurrahman
Wahid. True to Archer's style, this story is a sequel to an
earlier scandal that would have made an equally successful novel:
the Bank Bali case. By the looks of it, this saga has only just
started to get very interesting at a time when public interest in
the Bank Bali scandal is tapering off.

On Monday, Sjahril was named a suspect in the Bank Bali
scandal. His name has been mentioned by several suspects and
witnesses in the scandal. Some testified to his presence in one
or two meetings at a five-star hotel in Jakarta which led to the
disbursement of taxpayers' money to two Golkar political
operatives. He has repeatedly denied the testimony, but was
certainly in charge at the time the central bank decided to
disburse the Bank Bali money which eventually found its way into
the coffers of the two Golkar operatives. The attorney general
decided, after humming and hawing, to pin Sjahril on this.

This novel is not at all about Sjahril. This is about power,
money, greed and blackmail. The real motive behind the
government's latest maneuver against the central bank governor,
whose independence from the government is protected by a 1999
legislation, is to oust him and put someone more submissive under
the President. What lies behind that desire to bring Bank
Indonesia firmly under the government's control is anybody's
guess, at least at this stage of the story.

We have learned that the President has tried since December
various means, including the carrot and stick method, to have
Sjahril replaced. He turned down ambassadorial or other lucrative
posts offered by the President. He also ignored the government's
threat to initiate a criminal investigation against him over the
Bank Bali scandal.

Now that the government has made good on its threat, Sjahril
still refuses to stand down. On Tuesday, he won the support of
House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung. By the 1999 Law
on Bank Indonesia, only the House has the power to appoint a
central bank governor. The House can also replace a governor if
he/she is proven guilty of committing a crime, voluntarily
resigns or is declared unable to perform his/her job. None of
this applies to Sjahril. The governor has the law, and the House
behind him. Legally, he can keep his job. Whether he will still
be able to discharge his tasks effectively in light of the
criminal investigation is another matter.

So the stage is set for a confrontation between the President
and the Bank Indonesia governor. Nobody knows for sure who are
the good guys or the bad guys in this story. But we do know that
both the President and the central bank governor are guilty of
violating political ethics.

Sjahril must surely realize that the constant allegations
about his role in the Bank Bali scandal has affected not only his
own performance and image, but also those of the institution he
is running. He may have the law behind him, but the honorable
thing for him to do, for the country's economy sake, is to step
aside, or to step down from the governoship.

The President for his part is guilty of conducting political
blackmail by the way he has treated Sjahril. His political
maneuvers to oust Sjahril amounts to an outright intervention of
the central bank in contravention of the 1999 law.

While we watch with fascination the confrontation between the
two men develop in the coming days, weeks, or even months, there
are already many victims in this long-running saga. More than 210
million of them. The battle between the President and the Bank
Indonesia governor cannot be good for the already embattled
rupiah. The economy is bound to suffer even more, and with it,
the fate of 210 million people in this country.

At this stage, we should probably invite Jeffrey Archer over
to Indonesia to help tie up the many loose ends to this saga, and
bring this story to a quick and happy conclusion for the millions
of innocent bystanders who are falling prey to this unnecessary
political battle. The way this is developing, there are no real
heroes in this story. But there are millions of real victims.