House forces SBY to name new BI governor candidates

Aditya Suharmoko and Abdul Khalik ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 03/19/2008 12:20 AM  |  Headlines

The House of Representatives in a plenary session Tuesday rejected the Bank Indonesia governor candidates proposed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, affirming an earlier decision by a House commission.

Last week, the House's Commission XI overseeing financial affairs rejected the candidates of the President: Bank Mandiri president director Agus Martowardojo and PT Perusahaan Pengelola Aset vice president Raden Pardede.

The commission said neither candidate was capable of leading BI, the country's central bank.

"The House decided to reject both candidates," said House Speaker Agung Laksono following the session.

"We will officially send the results to the President on Wednesday. We will also ask the President to submit up to three names, without the two names that have been rejected."

Agung expects the President to submit the names immediately, as the House will begin a recess April 5 and current BI Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah will end his term May 17.

While expressing disappointment with the decision, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government accepted the situation and was preparing to name new candidates.

"Of course, we are disappointed with the rejection because they are the government's candidates. But because the process has been done in accordance with procedures, we can accept it and will move on to the next process."

The plenary session was suspended twice as some House factions attempted to reverse Commission XI's decision.

Three factions -- the President's Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) -- opposed the rejection of the candidates.

The Golkar Party, which is chaired by Vice President Kalla and which initially supported Agus, backed off and agreed to reject both candidates. Golkar controls the most seats in the House.

During the plenary session, Max Sopacua of the Democratic Party criticized Commission XI's decision, saying the so-called fit-and-proper test given the candidates had been abused for political gains.

"Both candidates were rejected even before they took the fit-and-proper tests," said Max.

A commission XI member, Maruar Sirait of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told a press conference the commission rejected both candidates based on their perceived capabilities, denying any political motives.

Another Commission XI member, Inya Bai of the Democratic Pioneer Star Party (PBPD), said, "Rumors that Commission XI was bribed to reject both candidates are not true."

Economist Faisal Basri has floated the names of people he believes are capable of leading the central bank. They are Coordinating Minister for the Economy Boediono, BI deputy governor Hartadi A. Sarwono and the director general of taxation, Darmin Nasution.

Darmin is known as an expert in monetary policy and Hartadi has been praised for his work at BI.(alf)

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