Some Indonesia lawmakers eye removing central bank governor, Tempo magazine reports

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Some members of Indonesia’s parliament plan to propose the president remove the central bank governor because they think he was not properly backing the government’s policy, investigative magazine Tempo reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources.

Earlier this month, parliament passed new rules for the evaluation and dismissal of public officials who are appointed by the legislature, covering judges in top courts and leaders of institutions such as the police, the military and the anti-corruption commission.

Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, the deputy speaker of parliament who is also a senior member of President Prabowo Subianto’s party, told Reuters there was no plan to remove the central bank governor.

Tempo reported the new regulation would be used by some members to propose to the president that he remove Bank Indonesia Governor Perry Warjiyo, citing several members of Prabowo’s coalition and a close aide, none of whom were named.

“Perry (Warjiyo) was considered to be not cooperative regarding ‘burden sharing’, or cooperating with the government to handle economic problems,” Tempo wrote, without identifying a policy that the governor was said to be not supporting.

Warjiyo did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the president said he has no information about such a plan.

Other lawmakers in the ruling coalition contacted by Reuters also did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Prabowo has a commanding majority in parliament.

Warjiyo has been BI Governor since 2018. He was re-appointed in 2023 and his term is due to run until 2028. He was nominated by Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko Widodo, and gained parliamentary approval for the job without opposition.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Gayatri Suroyo and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by John Mair)