Martin Manurung On Cancellation Of IBRA Debt Settlement Agreements(MSAA) IBonWEB.com - The government has indicated they might cancel debt payment agreements made under the MSAA with IBRA. The reasons given by Economics and Finance Minister Coordinator Kwik Kian Gie were that wrongdoers should not walk away from their banking violations and that the assets pledged under the agreements have since been depleted and reduced in value. A final ruling will be made by September, says Kwik, but in the meantime the government's tough stance has made giant conglomerates such as the Salim Goroup and tha Gajah Tunggal extremely apprehensive. This time the government's position is supported by reform-minded members of the public.Here is an interveiw with Martin Manurung, a university student in the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia, who has a record of public activism including a recent one as member of the 252-strong Forum Rembug National (a national dialogue forum initiated by independents) in Bali, recorded after a radio interview at M97 FM in Jakarta. Do you think it is a good idea to cancel the debt settlement agreements made between the IBRA and the corporate debtors? It is probably the best way because the spirit of the agreement had not been kept by the constant depletion of asset value by the owners. They failed to keep their asset value from declining against the amount owed by their companies. Since the debts came about by banking violations there is a strong element of accountability and criminality involved here. Just like the question I presented to Gus Dur at the FRN in Bali when I asked, "are you going to legal prosecution or are you going to negotiate?� you cannot really do both. How can you negotiate with people who are in violation of the law? And even if you wanted to be pragmatic, they would still surrender only a small portion of their liabilities in the form of the depleted assets. But what if you cannot enact justice on the perpetrators of the bad debts? IBRA has so far lost most of their cases in court. That is another problem, the problem of the courts. We hope the new Supreme Court, hopefully led by Benjamin Mangkudilaga, can act quickly to improve the integrity of the courts. In the meantime we cannot solve the problem of the debt as a separate issue from the administration of justice, because it would invite moral hazard by giving people the idea that they can escape accountability. We are realistic and we want to retrieve the money from people who have no right to keep it. With good examples of justice being upheld, the debtors should try better to return the amounts lost by the fraudulent practices. WW ->Kirim bunga ke-14 kota di Indonesia, http://www.indokado.com Untuk bergabung atau keluar dari Milis, silakan LAKUKAN SENDIRI Bergabung: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keluar: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sambut MASA DEPAN BARU Indonesia!
