Lawmakers anger BI governor with ruckus, tardiness

JAKARTA. Long known as a soft-spoken technocrat who rarely loses his cool, Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Darmin Nasution exploded in anger when dealing with legislators from House of Representatives’ Commission XI overseeing finance during a meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting, which began 50 minutes late in an almost empty room, ended up indulging a lawmaker from the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Dolfie OFP, who demanded the central bank separate the operational and policy making budgets in the presentation as promised in a previous meeting.

Speaking ferociously, Dolfie requested Harry Azhar Azis, the committee’s chairman who led the meeting, not to allow Darmin to start his presentation before the central bank answered his demand.

The central bank’s presentation actually included the separation and the detailed list — as requested by the House — but Dolfie claimed he was unaware of this.

The ruckus continued for 20 minutes before Darmin took the microphone and decided to cease the commotion.

“Why don’t you give us a chance [to explain]?” Darmin told lawmakers in a high tone. “To attend this meeting, we were forced to cancel our board of governors’ meeting and move it to Friday — something out of the ordinary for us. Please respect this.”

The lawmakers, taken aback by Darmin’s reaction, were silenced. Some of them attempted to cool the intense atmosphere in the room by requesting, “be calm, Pak, be calm”.

The central bank governor retorted. “Just ask [me] the things needed to be asked, do not just point fingers,” Darmin said.

Besides the prolonged protest, the central bank governor was annoyed by the fact that the meeting had begun 50 minutes late and the room was filled with empty chairs.

When the meeting convened, only nine out of 49 registered lawmakers in Commission XI were in the room. In stark contrast, BI came to the meeting with a full team, with Darmin flanked by all four active deputy governors.

To his colleagues, the 63-year-old economist is known to be a firm individual who never gets angry.

The meeting discussed the allocation of state budget funds for BI in 2013. The central bank governor said that BI would need at least Rp 5.5 trillion to finance its operations next year, a 4.8 percent increase compared to this year’s budget.

When Darmin delivered his presentation, a lawmaker criticized him for “giving too many technical details”.

“The next time you deliver your presentation, please do not cram so many things in like this as they confuse us. Besides, we don’t understand this kind of subject — please deliver it at a level that is easier for the public to comprehend,” said Sadar Subagyo, a lawmaker from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).

Lawmakers also criticized Darmin for letting the rupiah depreciate, which they argued was a bad indicator for the nation’s economy.

This is not the first time that a top government official has been at odds with Indonesian legislators, whom former president Abdurahman Wahid once referred to as “a bunch of kindergarten kids”.

During his meeting with the same commission in September, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo banged the table in frustration, accusing the lawmakers of beating around the bush during the discussion of the state budget’s macroeconomic assumptions.