`President should take responsibility for Century'

Former head of the presidential advisory council Adnan Buyung Nasution said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should take responsibility for the Bank Century bailout if the decision to salvage the bank was in line with state policy.

Adnan said that Yudhoyono should be brave enough to explain to the public the government's decision to inject Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) into the bank in order to end the protracted debate at the House of Representatives, which has been working on the case for two months.

"If the decision to save Bank Century was in line with state policy then the President should take full responsibility," Adnan, who claimed to speak in his capacity as an activist, said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com on Saturday.

He warned that Yudhoyono's inaction and failure to publicly respond to the case would create more difficulties for his officials, just as Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani had been bombarded by the House inquiry team last week.

Economist Ismet Hasan Putro agreed, saying the country would not need to spend so much time on investigating Bank Century if Yudhoyono took over the case.

"It is now in the hands of Yudhoyono. If he wants to speak out, the government could focus on other things," he said in a weekly discussion on Saturday.

A number of members of the House committee have demanded that President Yudhoyono testify over the Bank Century case.

Gayus Lumbuun from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) also said the President knew about the details of the decision to bail out the bank.

Inquiry committee member Akbar Faisal from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) said the presence of Yudhoyono was needed to clarify a statement from Sri Mulyani, who said she had sent a text message to Yudhoyono and then vice president Jusuf Kalla to report the bailout decision.

Kalla told the committee he had never read the message.

In his testimony at the House committee, Kalla said that Boediono, who was then governor of Bank Indonesia, refused to arrest the bank's owner Robert Tantular.

Vice President Boediono in his state visit to East Kalimantan on Friday confirmed Kalla had ordered Robert's arrest.

However, Boediono said that Bank Indonesia had asked the immigration office to prevent Robert Tantular from traveling overseas days before Kalla ordered the arrest.

The House inquiry committee has yet to consider summoning Yudhoyono, its chairman said.

"We do not have the data yet," said committee chairman Idrus Marham.

He declined to comment on Adnan's statement asking Yudhoyono to take responsibility for the case.

The committee has questioned, among others, Vice President Boediono, who was the Bank Indonesia governor at a time the bailout was extended, former vice president Jusuf Kalla and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Idrus, who is the Golkar secretary -general, said the committee would have to regroup to decide whether to summon the President.

Adnan Buyung also asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate the Bank Century case to determine whether the decision to bail out the bank was in line with state policy.

"If the KPK discovers the bailout was not in accordance with state policy then it must investigate President Yudhoyono," he said.

He said the result of the investigation should then be submitted to the Constitutional Court.