At the end of April, the Indonesian Bank Restructuring
Agency (IBRA) called in the cleaners yet again. This time it was to
empty the desk of chairman I Puto Gde Ary Suta. After his
possessions were boxed up and sent out they were replaced with
those of Syafruddin Temenggung (pictured above). He's the seventh
chairman to be installed at IBRA since it was established in 1998.
To the casual observer it might appear that IBRA is far more adept
at disposing of its chairmen than it is at following its mandate -
sorting out the banking sector and dealing with the rapidly
devaluing $65 billion-worth of distressed assets that it took onto
its books.
Being chairman number seven, it should not be a surprise if
Syafruddin never feels totally secure at his new desk. That's
because the list of his predecessors reads like a who's who of
Indonesia's top financiers and...
