Articles
Surya Paloh is looking for his cues. One of the early initiatives Paloh took was defining his stance on the Century case. Observing the surge in support for Sri Mulyani, he is throwing his weight behind her. The corollary is to attack Bakrie’s tax liabilities, which he has done in a television special on the case that could well amount to more than Rp 10 Trillion. Renewed publicity on the Lapindo disaster will come . If all this happens, Bakrie will see his chances sink into the mud. [includes Radio Australia excerpt]
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Substitute Aburizal Bakrie for Amien Rais in the leading role, and you have the same scenario now as we had back then. Bulog-Bruneigate was the excuse for wanton attacks on the president in 2001 and Bank Century is the issue in 2010. Buloggate was never proven as a crime and neither will the Bank Century case. Amien Rais went for straight impeachment instead, explaining that it doesn't matter what he is guilty of, he has been removed. Aburizal may yet desert Century and aim at impeachment, all or nothing.
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Facts, opinions and articles on Abdurrahman Wahid has accumulated overt the years, and in the week after his death they have grown exponentially. Here is a selection of quotes and links from around the world on the Indonesian with the most impeccable international reputation as a moral leader and thought innovator on tolerance, pluralism and democracy.
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'Gentle, friendly face of Indonesia and Islam' is the title of Professor Greg Barton's piece for The Age. His article for The Australian is titled 'Australia owes a debt of gratitude to Indonesia's accidental president'. Both offer gliimpses of the story of Gus Dur and his significance to Australian-Indonesian relations.
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President Abdurrahman Wahid had an unsuccessful presidency but he has successfully established national values of tolerance and equality that today define democracy in Indonesia. His values have lived on. The things we are praised now for being. The pluralism that has become the showcase items for Indonesia attracts laudatory comments from all over the world. he notion that Chinese descendants and other minorities are equal, their holidays being celebrated, and original names no longer required to be substituted by those acceptable to the majority. the religious tolerance that bring us fantastic Christmas carols in the malls of a predominantly Muslim country are all the fruits grown from seedlings Gus Dur planted in his presidency of 1999-2001.
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Gus Dur has sacrificed himself for his ideas. He did not place importance on his position as president. That is why he did not succumb to the deal making, attempts to build coalitions with political parties, but instead stood by his principles. He was ousted by the parliament, by the armed forces, by the media. In fact he was greatly insulted in those days. But now the nation lost him, Metro TV appreciates him, President Yudhoyono appreciates him, and certainly the world appreciates him. For him, he said, it is a small price to pay. he give up your position for the sake of the growth of his ideas. People accept his ideas now, even though he is no longer with us physically.
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Witoelar says Mr. Wahid was forced out of office because he was unwilling to compromise his political integrity and presidential authority. "I was a witness into several negotiations in which the Golkar party and others offered a compromise solution but he never thought of accepting them," said Witoelar. "He said it is too important, his opportunity to uphold moral principles in politics wa
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Corruption was inside of the government, now the corrupt people are outside. Outside of the cabinet, but not outside of the political system. Many suspect elements are members of the parliament, and some officials who had been dismissed by Sri Mulyani have been selected to head important agencies such as the Audit Agency (BPK). When Sri Mulyani upheld the law on tax, capital markets and acquisitions, some fell victim to the rulings in favor of good governance. This has spawned a vendetta among the erstwhile victims of reform. That is the plain truth about the Bank Century debate.
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"Wimar Witoelar, who moderated the press conference, said Mulyani had been treated unfairly. This noise is made by anarchic political groups. The media are being used as their tools.”
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati expects allegations that she conspired with Robert Tantular, which have now proven untrue, would not distract the public’s attention from the ongoing probe into Century. “I hope this allegation, made by lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo, a member of the Golkar Party, will not distract us,” Mulyani said Sunday. “We want the investigation into Century to be objective, transparent, credible and untarnished by dirty political motives. I think this [allegation] has led to character assassination.
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The Wall Street Jounal published a bombshell piece titled "Indonesian Minister defends bailout". It was a frank and direct statement by the internationally acclaimed Finance Minister which shocked some parties but relieved the general public who had long wanted to see some light at the end of the political tunnel which the Bank Century case had become. The finger points to Aburizal Bakrie eh is facing huge tax obligations and fines in a case being prepared by the Indonesian Tax Office. Presdent Yudhoyono is expected to support the Finance Minister who is the most important asset in Indonesia's economic credibility.
Jakarta Official Defends BailoutArticleSlideshowComments (3)MORE IN WORLD »EmailPrinterFriendlyShare:facebook↓ MoreSave This↓ MoreTextBy TOM WRIGHTJAKARTA -- Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said a parliamentary probe into the government's handling of a 0 million bank bailout last year is an attempt by rival politicians to unseat her because of her efforts to overhaul the country's bureaucracy.View Full ImageBloomberg NewsIndonesia's Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, shown speaking at a seminar in Jakarta last week, in an interview defended the bailout of Bank Century last year.Ms. Sri Mulyani and Vice President Boediono have become subjects in recent weeks of a parliamentary investigation into the bailout in November 2008 of Bank Century, a small Indonesian lender. As finance minister, Ms. Sri Mulyani oversaw the bailout; Mr. Boediono was central-bank governor at the time.Ms. Sri Mulyani said in an interview that failing to guarantee Bank Century's deposits at a time of huge capital outflows from emerging markets could have sparked panic among depositors of other banks. "I felt like what I did was the right thing for the country," she said.Mr. Boediono has also defended the bailout as necessary to stop wider panic in the banking sector.The head of the investigation, Idrus Marham, who is secretary-general of the Golkar Part y, said on Wednesday the investigation was backed by all major political parties and wasn't targeted at Ms. Sri Mulyani."We didn't do this to target Sri Mulyani. The focus is to get data and facts" on the bailout, Mr. Marham said.Fighting Corruption in IndonesiaView SlideshowBaso Ballang/Associated PressScores of students, including this one, armed with rocks and wooden planks clashed with anti-riot police and vandalized commercial buildings at a rally in Makassar, the South Sulawesi provincial capital, 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta.More photos and interactive graphicsHe declined to comment on the specifics of the investigation, which began this month and he said will take two months to complete.Mr. Marham and other Golkar Party lawmakers who are leading the probe claim the bailout of Bank Century was done without legal authority and without proving a capital injection was needed to stave off a run on other banks. Some politicians have said the bank wasn't eligible for a rescue because its problems stemmed from fraud that led to the bank's near-collapse. One of the bank's former owners, Robert Tantular, was sentenced in September to four years in prison for fraud.Ms. Sri Mulyani said the bailout was legal.A former university economics professor and International Monetary Fund senior executive, Ms. Sri Mulyani is respected by many foreign investors for her role in managing Indonesia's economy, which has included efforts to weed out endemic corruption.She said she believed the probe was an attempt to discredit her by politicians that oppose her reform agenda, notably leaders of the Golkar Party, including Chairman Aburizal Bakrie, a billionaire businessman and former cabinet member in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first-term administration.Ms. Sri Mulyani said tensions between her and Mr. Bakrie date to last year when she opposed the closure of Indonesia's stock exchange amid a run on companies controlled by Mr. Bakrie. Mr. Bakrie, one of whose coal-mining firms accounted for a third of daily turnover on the bourse at the time, ordered the closure, she said.Mr. Bakrie, through a spokesman, declined to comment on the closure.The finance ministry also last year imposed a travel ban on a number of coal-mining executives, including some from Mr. Bakrie's companies, after a dispute over the refusal of the companies to pay royalties on the sale of coal to the government."Abuizal Bakrie is not happy with me," she said. "I'm not expecting anyone in Golkar will be fair or kind to me" during the probe.Mr. Bakrie denied there was any problem between himself and Ms. Sri Mulyani.Many analysts say the claim that the bailout was illegal appears to be without merit."Under the circumstances, what Sri Mulyani and Boediono did was to prevent a crisis," said Umar Juoro, chairman of the Center for Information and Development Studies, a Jakarta-based think tank.Other government officials involved in the bailout have supported Ms. Sri Mulyani. The head of Indonesia's Deposit Guarantee Agency told an Indonesian magazine, Gatra, last week that the rescue was lawful.Some senior Golkar politicians have in recent weeks publicly called for Ms. Sri Mulyani and Mr. Boediono to hand their jobs to deputies while the investigation is under way.President Yudhoyono won re-election to a second term this year on a graft-busting platform. Indonesia's natural-resources-powered economy is forecast by private economists to grow by more than 4% this year, a healthy clip compared with many developed economies, but economists question whether that growth will be sustained if the country can't get a handle on corruption -- a major deterrent to foreign investment here, which lags behind India and China.Popular dissatisfaction with corruption continues to mount. On Wednesday, students armed with rocks and wooden planks clashed with riot police as more than two dozen rallies involving thousands of protesters broke out as part of annual events designed to mark International Anticorruption Day.Any signs of an intensification of efforts to oust Ms. Sri Mulyani would also likely spook foreign investors who have applauded her antigraft drive and management of the budget. Since taking up her job at the finance ministry in 2005, she has overseen a reduction in public debt to 30% of GDP from 60%, making it easier for Indonesia to sell debt to foreign institutional investors, bankers say."There's no way you could fill the credibility gap that would be created by her departure," says David Fernandez, a managing director of J.P. Morgan in Singapore who heads the bank's emerging-Asia research.Indonesia is serious about pushing through overhauls to clear up what Mr. Yudhoyono has referred to as a "judicial mafia" of corrupt officials in the courts, attorney general's office and police, Ms. Sri Mulyani said. But she acknowledged that Mr. Yudhoyono's first term was a "honeymoon" for her."I should become more realistic. I'm expecting a nasty battle if I'm going to do the reform," she said.Priorities, Ms. Sri Mulyani said, include continuing to clean up her own ministry, where there is still corruption, and catching more tax cheats. Past efforts led by Ms. Sri Mulyani have included a war on graft in the tax office, greatly increasing the nation's tax base, and customs department.Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com
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The Bibit-Chandra case is largely about moral issues of sincerity and duty versus greed and conspiracy. The Bank Century case is not that simple. It is very technical involving banking and economic crisis management. Yet public euphoria is carrying over energy from the Bibit-Chandra case to the Bank Century Case. Following the 1.4 million facebook votes in support of Bibit-Chandra, there is a motion of no confidence against the President. While it is too serious, it would be dangerous to ignore the parallel. People power is good, but not if it is driven by the greed of politicians and big money from business people who need to ensure their privileges. The SBY coalition is broad but not deep. Many ostensible SBY supporters stand to gain from the removal of the two icons of finance, even at the risk of destabilizing the government.
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The game dragged on and ended in a scoreless draw .. some chances but no execution.
Press excerpts from AFP, Financial Times and The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
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Political analyst Wimar Witoelar said the scandal, if mishandled, had the potential to seriously damage Yudhoyono's presidency just a month into his new term. However he said the president would likely avert further crisis by having the case against the KPK deputies dropped, reforming law enforcement agencies and opening the Bank Century case up to investigation. "The stakes are very high," Witoelar said. "If he deviates from any of those three he will be in deep trouble. Without being dramatic about it we can say he will be greatly diminished."
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This piece was written by invitation, but the publication declined to publish it because it was regarded as too controversial. I will not reveal the name of the Jakarta publciation. It was not the Jakarta Post or the Jakarta Globe. It is a bit dated now but I think the concept is still fresh, that Indonesia might be a bird that always rises from ashes. lHave a look and tell me what you find controversial.
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We have a very strong press which can extinguish any attempt to cover up corruption cases. Our press has never been this open in the history of our country, or any country for that matter. Everything is on television. live, You find the heads of the National Police, of the Attorney General's Office subjected to doorstop interviews. So it's all a very transparent process. We just need the finale, the stamp of approval from the President to continue with reform.
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The Attorney General's Office has returned the case to the police. President has only to look up from the details of the case, take a deep breath, and look into the world horizon. He will see clearly that the nation's destiny is on the side of the civil society, and he may use the case to accelerate reform of the National Police and the Attorney General's Office.
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For your convenience, find the YouTube clips of interviews by Al-Jazeera and Australian Network TV on the Corruption Scandal involving Indonesia's law enforcement agencies. “With the resignation of the two gentlemen, it shows that the process is on the right track. In the old days you would have had some demotions and dismissals, but you wouldn’t know how it happened. This is very participatory,” Wimar said in yet another interview with teh Financial Times
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This is the best display of people power since the 1998 student movement escorted Indonesia into the age of reform. More significantly for our future, May 1998 people power went against the system and brought Suharto down. The 2009 people power defends the system and is likely to strengthen SBY for his five-year term. UPDATES: Reuters and Financial Times and **AL-Jazeera YouTube **
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Breakfast talk by Wimar Witoelar, Friday November 29, 7:30-9:30 at the Financial Club Jakarta, Graha Niaga 27th floor. Fill out form and return by email or fax
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SBY Key 100-Day priorities
1 Eradicate ‘judicial mafia’ - 2 Revitalize defense industry - 3 Eradicate terrorism - 4 Electricity generation - 5 Food production and security
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