Just make all of them public if that’s the point, so there won’t be all this hullaballoo.
These are the words of Sri Mulyani, the Finance Minister, to the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), who are turning into a Supreme Pain-in-the-Arse.
The Minister is talking about leaked minutes of a Bank of Indonesia meeting -- the last meeting before Bank of Indonesia decided to bail out Bank Century.
The minutes were given to the BPK by the Finance Ministry to help them with their audit. It seems that the BPK leaked the minutes. The main people attending the meeting were:
- MoF -- Minister of Finance, Sri Muliyani
- BI -- the (Central) Bank of Indonesia, represented by Boediono (now Veep)
- Bapepam -- the Capital Market Supervisory Agency
BI: We're thinking of bailing out Bank Century. We're worried that if the bank collapses, it will have a domino effect and other banks will collapse. It could be like the financial crisis in the UK and US.
Bapepam: What?! Bank Century is hardly Freddy Mac (a big American bank that was in the same situation). Sure it has some rich customers. But you have provided no evidence to support this "domino effect".
BI: Aha! If it's only a little bank, then why all the fuss? It's only Rp 971,000,000,000,000,000,000... oh hang on, how many zeros are there in a gazillion?
MoF: It doesn't matter. It will set a bad precedent. We should only bail out a banks if it is important for the economy -- not its rich customers.
Bapapam: That's right. What's more, it will cause panic. People will think the Indonesian banking system is in real trouble if we bail out a small bank.
BI: Hmm... I hear what you say, but I'm not convinced. This risk that you talk about is difficult to quantify. It is better that we act prudently.
MoF: Prudently? I'll give you prudent!
MoF stands up, slaps BI across the face and storms out of the meeting. Bapapam flips BI the bird and follows her out.
Okay, I made the last bit up, but it makes for much better sinetron don't you think?
