The appointment of Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as one of the managing directors of the World Bank (WB), a prestigious position only one level below World Bank president Robert Zoellick, is interesting enough to be commented on. With all the speculation and analysis of the background to the appointment, finally people were directed to one enigma, i.e. whether she was asked by Zoellick to join the WB in light of his organization’s necessity, or she was offered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Zoellick to calm the tension of the political battle that has made the President feels uncomfortable over the past few months.
Whatever her reason for quitting, it’s hard to deny that the departure of our best finance minister has something to do with Bank Century bailout case.
The Bank Century case, indeed, has become a pebble in the shoe for Mulyani as well as for SBY himself. Though only a pebble, one should not belittle a pebble. If SBY fails to handle the matter carefully, it’s not impossible for him to slip up.
This is the point that makes many people laugh about the Bank Century saga, because so much effort, energy and state money have been poured into it for several months, and the settlement was, eventually, very simple.
We will get to know, over the coming period, what will happen to the case, since the political motive was so obvious from the beginning. Let’s just see if the loud voices of our lawmakers in the House of Representatives fade away, then let’s laugh loudly at our lawmakers.
It is truly ironic, when she has been reviled and ridiculed by the elites of this country, Zoellick in the WB press release dated May 4, 2010 gave her such high praise: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Sri Mulyani Indrawati. She has been an outstanding finance minister with in-depth knowledge of both development issues and the role of the World Bank Group. She has received global recognition for her success in combating corruption and strengthening good governance.”
Zoellick was absolutely correct in his decision to pick Mulyani as one of his confidants. I personally admire her since she publicly appeared on TV talk show in the middle of monetary crisis that hit Indonesia in 1997-1998.In the talk show aired by SCTV on February 1998, she revealed her view about the Currency Board System (CBS), an idea brought in by Steve Hanke. Speaking among Emil Salim, late Frans Seda, Peter Gontha and the late Ekky Syahruddin, she was not seen as nervous, but delivered her own intelligent opinion.
The global economy downturn in 2008 has put her in the midst of the wake of political interests. When the shares of prominent companies – one of them Bumi Resources owned by Aburizal Bakrie – plunged to their lowest level, the owners of those companies attempted to seek salvation by asking the government to bail them out.
However, Sri Mulyani, as the guardian of state finance said: “I am the finance minister. My job is to protect the state fund. Companies have a job to protect their own financial affairs. If they fail, it is their fault and they deserve to go bust.”
Now, President SBY has to select the next finance minister to replace Sri Mulyani, although it will be a tough job to select a person of her caliber. For the next minister, it is simply not enough to be smart, reform-minded and corruption-free, but also to have a heart as brave as Mulyani has.
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Serpong, 16 May 2010
Titus J.
related story: The Peeble of Bank Century
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