Three most powerful banks

Three most powerful banks

From Merdeka

Society has now learned a hard lesson from the recent measures taken by the government to liquidate 16 private banks. People should now be more careful in choosing which banks they can trust to deposit their money. People should also be vigilant against any bank that offers high interest on customers' funds.

It should be noted that some bank owners used the money deposited in their banks to finance their own businesses rather than helping other businessmen to run their businesses. Those recalcitrant banks were not complying with the regulations set by the central bank.

To the best of my knowledge there are now three most powerful private banks in Indonesia, i.e. BCA, Bank Duta and Bank Umum Nasional. I have good reasons to point out these three banks, simply because they are owned by extremely wealthy individuals. The biggest shareholders of BCA, for example, are tycoons Liem Sioe Liong, Sigit Hardjojudanto and Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana. Next is Bank Umum Nasional which is owned by a hugely successful entrepreneur, Bob Hasan. The third bank, Bank Duta, is also managed by Bob Hasan, along with Bustanil Arifin, former minister of cooperatives and head of National Logistic Agency.

So we can be assured that there is no question of liquidation measures to be taken against these three banks. There was a great rush against BCA when rumors circulated that Uncle Liem (Sioe Liong) had died. The bank easily cashed Rp 500 billion to pay its clients. It was not a bid deal anyway. Liem said that his savings in Bank Indonesia alone amounted to Rp 5 trillion.

What we are concerned about is that there will be prolonged inflation which may cover a period of two years or so. The government ought to be on the watch.

H.G. MALIKMASS

Jakarta