What a brilliant (not) deduction following months of time-wasting and political game-playing, to hear that the House of Representatives had determined that Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati were "the persons most responsible for the bailout decision".
Of course they were "the persons most responsible" - as the man heading Bank Indonesia, and Indonesia's Finance Minister. Isn't this obvious (to anybody with at least an ounce of brain) that they were naturally the figures who guided other experts through this difficult time in the "long and dubious life of Bank Century"?
Nor should it have come as any surprise to anyone to hear from the President (albeit some three months too late) that he must bear the ultimate responsibility as it was he who ordered whatever action was deemed necessary by these two trusted servants of the government and the nation, to prevent what could have been a financial disaster for Indonesia's banking sector and the country as a whole.
Will it ever be revealed how much this "enquiry" has cost Indonesia - not just the cost of running the enquiry, which must pale into insignificance when compared with the lost business opportunities caused by the cloud that has been placed over an economy - previously stable and the envy of other Asian nations?
Watching the news on Indonesian TV during this "enquiry" it was clear to anybody with even the most elementary observational skills that for most of those who took part in the House of Representatives inquiry, this was a diversion from their main interest - talking and joking among themselves when they were not "playing" with their hand phones.
We then witnessed scenes in the House at the end of this debacle when our "esteemed politicians" could have so easily been compared to a bunch of hooligans returning from a football match - albeit slightly better dressed! Their behavior was an absolute disgrace and must be considered abhorrent to any Indonesian citizens who had the misfortune to watch their "fun and games in living color" on national TV.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - and his Democratic Party - was re-elected with a clear mandate and with absolute confidence from the Indonesian people, to lead the nation for the next four years.
The President must now prove that he has the strength, and the conviction, to leave investigations of any "wrongdoing" to the appropriate authorities, and not let this "match of unprecedented political proportions" inhibit Indonesia's progress any more than it already has.
Yudhoyono must clearly demonstrate to the Indonesian people that he is a real professional - and above those who are clearly acting like spoiled children who had their toys taken away from them - and prove to those whose confidence in him returned him to the Presidential Palace, that he has the ability to fulfill the promises he made to the nation.
For the sake of Indonesia, Yudhoyono must forge ahead with the knowledge that he has the Indonesian nation to consider, rather than be inhibited by an inept bunch of would-be political opportunists who were unable to prove what they initially set out to do, claiming the Century "bailout money was channeled into funding the Yudhoyono presidential election campaign" and who are now trying to make Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati into scapegoats to camouflage their own political blunders.
Les Williams
Jakarta
