Only Time Will Tell if Agus Martowardojo Has The Spine

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Indonesia’s new finance minister faces an uphill struggle to restore investor confidence after the shock resignation of his respected predecessor, analysts said Thursday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed PT Bank Mandiri chief Agus Martowardojo late Wednesday to replace independent economist Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who resigned on May 4 for a top job at the World Bank.

Yudhoyono said Martowardojo — another independent technocrat — had the “capacity and integrity” required to handle Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, which is forecast to grow 5.5 percent this year.

Indrawati’s resignation on May 4 sent the Jakarta stock exchange into a tailspin as investors fretted over the pace of reform. The 47-year-old had won broad praise for her uncompromising efforts to clean up the corrupt tax and customs offices — reform deemed vital for growth but which put her at odds with powerful vested interests.

Analysts said only time would tell whether Martowardojo, 54, had the spine to continue Indrawati’s work and take on the business and political forces that effectively ousted her.
“With a track record of leading change at Indonesia’s largest bank, he can be expected to push for improved efficiency and better performance in the civil service,” The Jakarta Globe said in an editorial.

“More important, he can be relied on to continue to crack down on corruption within the finance ministry and beyond. “But his critics will argue that he is a political novice and has not had many dealings with the House of Representatives. On this front he will have a steep learning curve and will have to adjust to political currents quickly.”

Indrawati’s departure for the number-two job at the World Bank, starting June 1, followed months of political attacks from Yudhoyono’s coalition partners over a controversial bank bailout.

It is unclear whether she walked or was pushed from office as part of a deal between Yudhoyono and Golkar party chief Aburizal Bakrie, a business tycoon and coalition playmaker who led the attacks on Indrawati over the bank rescue.

Source : kompas.com

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