Esther Samboh, Jakarta – In an event attended by finance ministers and senior officials from ASEAN states, as well as representatives of various regional and international organizations in Bali on Friday, journalists paid most attention to a familiar charming lady.
At the 15th ASEAN Finance Ministers' Meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, all eyes were on Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the World Bank managing director and former Indonesian finance minister. Her departure from the Finance Ministry to Washington, DC in May last year was the result of pressure from major political parties, especially the Golkar Party and its chairman Aburizal Bakrie.
Twenty or more journalists ran after the 48-year-old reform-minded economist, asking questions such as "How are you?" and "How's everything?" as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo and other ministers walked past.
Sri Mulyani, widely known for her tough character, answered, "I'm good, I'm good. I arrived [in Bali] last night. All is well, thank you."
When asked if she had met the President prior to the opening ceremony of the meeting, Sri Mulyani, dressed in a green and black batik dress, answered, "I met him earlier this morning. We met with other delegates."
Rumors and speculation abounded that Sri Mulyani's acceptance of a prestigious post at the World Bank was an order by Yudhoyono and was not negotiable.
Soon after saying she had met the President, Sri Mulyani stopped taking questions and walked on, but journalists continued to block her way. "I cannot move," Sri Mulyani, who is now a "Washingtonian", said in English.
This marks Sri Mulyani's first visit to Indonesia after almost a year at World Bank headquarter in Washington, DC.
A local newspaper journalist stood still from afar while fellow reporters interviewed Sri Mulyani. "I just wanted to see her. It's been a long time since I last saw her," Dwi Tupani, a Media Indonesia reporter, said when asked why she did not approach Sri Mulyani herself. When told about this, Sri Mulyani patted Dwi on the back, saying, "So sweet."
Sri Mulyani, the only woman posing for pictures with the 17 ASEAN key figures at the Bali opening ceremony, is scheduled to return to Washington on Saturday after a brief two-day visit to Bali.
"The Banteng people did not ask me to come. They did not invite me," she said, referring to Lapangan Banteng, a soccer field in Central Jakarta close to the Finance Ministry and office of the coordinating minister for the economy.
Despite not being invited to "Banteng", Sri Mulyani still managed to joke about "Banteng people" (Finance Ministry officials). "I heard the current Echelon I [level of civil servants] is getting fatter?" she said, hinting that current Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo was "not tough enough".
"The current minister is not as tough as I was. I was a step-mother. I [told the Banteng people] to eat and exercise. But it was actually good. Now it's 'dangerous'," she told smiling journalists, who may have sensed the hidden meaning of "fat".