By rising from the government`s blacklist to a top cabinet post, Indonesia`s newest "economic tzar", Kwik Kian Gie, has pulled off a remarkable political turnaround. His deftness at leaving behind his former role of outsider and strident critic will have a significant bearing on Indonesia`s hopes of economic recovery.
President Abdurrahman Wahid this week appointed Kwik, a long-time aide to the country`s vice-president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, to perhaps the country`s most powerful economic post: co-ordinating minister for economy, finance, and industry.
Kwik will be crucial to Wahid`s new government, liaising between the president and the International Monetary Fund, which heads a $43 billion bail-out programme for Indonesia.
He will also co-ordinate economic policy.
The announcement caps Kwik`s emergence from nearly a decade in political opposition, where his relentless public attacks on Indonesia`s giant, largely ethnic Chinese conglomerates and former president Suharto`s government earned him a reputation as a troublemaker, as well as death threats.
His frequent writings in Indonesia`s national newspaper, Kompas, alleged a series of financial transgressions committed by Indonesian tycoons in cahoots with government officials.
That Kwik, 64 years old, is himself Chinese made his attacks on Chinese business that much more exceptional.
People in Indonesia`s business community hoping to tackle financial corruption welcomed his appointment. "What is needed here above all else is a man with integrity, and Kwik has that," said Martin Panggabean, an adviser to the president`s National Awakening Party.
Many foreign investors also welcomed Kwik`s appointment. "It`s still early, but he seems committed to market reform policies, and that`s positive," said John Kelley, a bond portfolio manager in Hong Kong for Alliance Capital Management of New York.
A graduate in finance from the University Netherlandse Economische Hogeschool in Rotterdam, Kwik was firmly ensconced in the financial services business, like many Indonesian-Chinese in the mid-1980s, when his life took a U turn.
He sold his firm, set up an academic institute and joined Megawati and her Indonesian Democratic Party as perhaps Indonesia`s only major Chinese politician.
Many are hoping Kwik can serve as a magnet to attract back the Chinese-Indonesian money that fled overseas after the 1998 riots. - Dow Jones, Jakarta