TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Executive Director of Bank Indonesia Tirta Segara, hoped that the House of Representatives will prioritizes the amendment of the Law of Bank Indonesia before revising the Finance Laws. "It will be more beneficial if the regulator's Law be revised before the financial laws," he said to Tempo last week.

Tirta said the reason is because there are a number of issues in the law that are no longer relevant to present conditions, such as the authority of financial services supervision, which has been handed over to the Financial Services Authority (OJK). "Banking [institution] supervision has been handed over to OJK. This means that the regulation is no longer relevant and needs to be amended as soon as possible," he said.

On the other hand, an economist from the University of Indonesia Lana Soelistianingsih, said that the revision of the Finance Law does not need to wait for the amendment of the central bank law. "Indonesia's financial sector requires certainty before the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)," she said on Sunday, October 12, 2014.

She also said that the financial sector need at least a five to ten year of transition phase before it can fully face the AEC, which will enter into force in 2020. "If we wait for the amendment, then it will delay the preparation to enter the transition phase," said Lana.

Enny Sri Hartati, Economist from the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, said that it is time for the Finance Law in Indonesia to be revised as long as it is meant for the people, not just for publicity. She also said that the Indonesia’s Finance Law is not reciprocal. "If a local bank wants to do business abroad it is extremely difficult, but if a foreign bank wishes to do business in Indonesia it is very easy. They can even have control over 90 percent of the shares," she said.

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