[The deregulation of Indonesia's banking sector in the 1980s and 1990s] “opened the floodgates for local crony conglomerates to set up private banks and take in deposits from a trusting public.”
With no rule of law, there was no oversight and no supervision, he said.
“The foxes were running wild in the financial chicken coop and no one, …pressured the Indonesians to design safeguards to protect the public’s deposits,” he said. One result was the 1997-98 financial crisis “that plunged tens of millions into abject poverty.”
That’s Jeffrey Winters of Northwestern University’s take on Indonesia’s banking deregulation. The language, it is a bit too colorful for my taste. And, don’t you think his assessment is over the top?
By the way, Winters is commenting on World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz role as U.S. ambassador to Indonesia in the 1980s.