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subdued presidential campaign: June was the month of a rather lackluster presidential campaign. And with many voters being reasonably familiar with the presidential candidates' profiles and views, many focused on the vice-president hopefuls. Prabowo, Wiranto and Boediono are not unknown entities, but as vice presidential candidates everyone wanted to know how they saw their role.

The televised debate, unfortunately didn't shed too much light on this, but it is interesting to see that Boediono, like Jusuf Kalla before him, would most likely focus on the economic portfolio, while Wiranto would oversee security and social issues.

Prabowo, on the other hand, would probably want to cover a broader spectrum. We would have to wait until the votes are counted, to find out. We also would have to wait a bit longer to know who will replace Boediono as Bank Indonesia governor, a position he had to relinquish, when he announced his candidacy.

Changes at BI and MOF and the Financial Services Authority debate: The most talked about candidate to replace Boediono at Bank Indonesia is current Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani. If she is chosen, the central bank acquires two senior Finance Ministry people, as governor and senior deputy governor, (the latter would be taken up by the Ministry's director general of taxes, Darmin Nasution).

This would speed up the establishment of the Financial Services Authority (OJK), the merits of which have been hotly debated between the Ministry of Finance and Bank Indonesia. The debate has focused on the pros and cons of having a single supervisory body that would oversee all financial institutions, covering banks, finance companies, security companies and insurance.

Currently, the banks are supervised by Bank Indonesia, while the finance, security and insurance companies are overseen by the Ministry of Finance. We have seen that having a single supervisory body is not a guarantee that a financial crisis can be better predicted and managed. This was recently exemplified in the UK, which has adopted this regulatory framework.

But it is hard to go against the argument that a single supervisory body does help with supervising different types of financial institutions, which are increasingly interlinked operationally or through ownership.

For example, a number of the large banks have subsidiaries that are either, finance companies, insurance companies or security companies, or all three. Bringing Sri Mulyani to Bank Indonesia, however, raises another question as to who will replace her at the Finance Ministry and whether her replacement will be determined enough to continue her tough reform measures.

June Headlines:

03Jun: OJK bill going ahead

Government is finalizing the Financial Services Authority (OJK) bill for parliament to review. The plan is to set up the body by 31 December 2010, as mandated by the Bank Indonesia law.

04Jun: McDonalds debacle

McDonalds Indonesia, through Bina Nusa Rama (BNR), has shifted the appointment of its sole master franchisee to Rekso National Food (RNF) from Bambang Rachmadi, who is contesting the move in the South Jakarta District Court. BNR has also completed the sale of its assets to RNF, which now operates 97 McDonald's outlets and holds the sole license to open new restaurants.

RNF produces the country's leading bottled tea drink, Teh Botol Sostro. Bambang still operates 13 other restaurants and still maintains a 10 percent stake in BNR. The remaining 90 percent stake is owned by McDonald's International Investment Services.

10Jun: BHP may leave RI

Australia's mining company, BHP Billiton, is reconsidering its investments in Indonesia. In a statement, the company has decided to stop developing the pilot Haju mine, one of seven mines under the company's Maruwai coal project in Central Kalimantan.

It is also stopping the feasibility study of the Lampunut Block and placing its activity in five other areas under review. The company cited that its Indonesian projects do not fit its long term investment strategy.

11Jun: Heidelberg raises Rp 3.1t

Germany's cement producer, Heidelberg Cement AG divested 14.1 percent of its stake in Indonesia's second largest cement producer, Indocement Tunggal Perkasa, to raise Rp 3.1 trillion (220 million euro) for its parent company to help pay off its debts.

After the sale, Heidelberg will still own 51 percent of Indocement, with the remaining stakes owned by the Salim group and the public. Indonesian cement producers expect sales to rise 3 percent this year, down from 12 percent last year.

17Jun: BUMI in question

Bapepam, the Capital Market Supervisory Agency, considers the price paid by Bakrie coal mining BUMI to acquire affiliated Fajar Bumi Sakti as too high, while the price of its other two acquisitions, Dharma Henwa and Pendopo Energi Batubara were considered fair.

The three companies acquired are local coal mining firms.

18Jun: BAT buys Bentoel

British American Tobacco (BAT) has bought a majority stake in Bentoel, the country's fourth largest clove cigarette producer. BAT paid US$494 million for an 85 percent stake in Bentoel, which has a 7 percent market share.

However, this is still much below the top three clove cigarette makers, HM Sampoerna (owned by Philip Morris) with 27 percent market share, Gudang Garam with 22 percent and Djarum 21 percent.

Recently, Gudang Garam, saw a change in its top management with Susilo Wonowidjojo, previously vice president director, replacing Djajusman Surjowijono as president director.

Gudang Garam has lost its number one position in the cigarette market to HM Sampoerna and is trying revamp its management to regain its lead position.

20Jun: Motorcycle sales rising

Motorcycle sales in May rose 18.6 percent to 457,650 from 385,831 a month earlier. However, on a January-May year-on-year basis, motorcycles sales dropped 17.8 percent to 2,061,685.

In May, Honda regained its leading position over Yamaha, its major rival. In third and fourth place in the Indonesian motorcycle market are Suzuki and Kawasaki.

25Jun: IDX shake-up

Ito Warsito, previously president commissioner of Bahana Securities, was chosen to replace Erry Firmansyah as President Director of the Indonesia Stock Exchange.

Erry has led the Stock Exchange since 2002.

Ito plans to double the number of retail investors by 2012, by upgrading online trading technology to attract internet users.

26Jun: Pertamina buys BP share

State oil company, Pertamina, buys British Petroleum's 46 percent controlling interest in the offshore northwest Java (ONWJ) oil and gas block, for US$280 million.

The concession covers 8,300 square kilometers of offshore West Java stretching from Cirebon to Jakarta's northern Thousand Islands.

The facilities include 314 pro-ducing wells and 218 offshore structures.

The block produces about 22,000 barrels of oil per day and 220 million cubic feet of gas. The purchase is in line with Pertamina's focus on the upstream business, which contributes 70 percent of the company's profits.

In 2008, Pertamina revenue and profits reached Rp 554.2 trillion and Rp 30.2 trillion, respectively.

27Jun: Farralon sells BCA stake

US-based hedge fund Farallon Capital Management LLC has sold its remaining 4.1 percent stake in Indonesia's largest private bank, which is ranked third in assets.

Farallon sold its 986 million BCA shares at Rp 3,425 per share, receiving Rp 3.4 trillion or US$331 million.