Thomas Djiwandono Officially Becomes Deputy Governor of BI, Decided 10 Minutes After Fit and Proper Test

Wamenkeu Thomas Djiwandono (Photo: VOI)

JAKARTA - Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives officially appointed Thomas Djiwandono as Deputy Governor of the Bank Indonesia (BI) for the 2026-2031 term.

The determination was made through the consensus deliberation mechanism after Thomas underwent a series of fit and proper tests.

Based on monitoring, the meeting of Commission XI of the DPR RI which was attended by Thomas ended at around 17.42 WIB. After about 10 minutes, Commission XI immediately made a decision that Thomas was elected as Deputy Governor of BI.

Chairman of Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Mukhamad Misbakhun, explained that the decision was made after all members of Commission XI held an internal meeting which was initiated by a leadership meeting.

He added that the meeting was fully attended by the leadership of Commission XI as well as eight factions (poksi).

"The Commission XI of the Indonesian House of Representatives has just held an internal meeting, starting with a leadership meeting, namely the leadership of Commission 11 together with the leadership of the poksi-poksi, from 8 complete poksi present and the leadership is also complete," he explained to the media, Monday, January 26.

"It was then agreed through the musawarah mufakat process and then included in the internal meeting of Commission XI. That it is needed to be the Deputy Governor of Bank Indonesia, the replacement for Mr. Juda Agung who resigned is Mr. Thomas AM Jiwandono and today we agreed to decide together to be the decision of Commission XI in the internal meeting and later will be brought to the DPR RI to be ratified in the plenary session tomorrow," he added.

According to him, one of the main considerations is the figure of Thomas who can be accepted by all political party factions in Commission XI of the DPR RI.

"The consideration is that Mr. Thomas is a figure that can be accepted by all political parties," he said.

In addition, Thomas is considered able to present his views comprehensively, especially regarding the importance of synergy between monetary policy and fiscal policy in promoting economic growth.

"Mr. Thomas' figure also explained it very well. About how it is necessary to build synergy between monetary policy and fiscal policy. So that provides reinforcement for what economic growth is like and how to build agility in this decision-making process and according to me it is indeed a strong issue at this time. How to build synergy that mutually strengthens monetary policy and fiscal policy," he explained.

Misbakhun also assessed that Thomas' closing statement in the eligibility test further strengthened his commitment to the professionalism and independence of Bank Indonesia.

"Even in the closing statement, he conveyed that professionalism was one of the strong things, which he wanted to maintain and, in my opinion, it was a closing statement that strengthened the position of professionalism of Thomas Djiwandono," he said.

Misbakhun also conveyed that the results of the decision of Commission XI of the DPR RI would be brought to the plenary session of the DPR RI which is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 10.00 WIB to obtain approval.

He added that all factions in Commission XI were said to have approved the decision without objections, even the majority provided positive notes regarding the commitment to strengthening the professionalism and independence of the BI.

"There is no record at all. In fact, many of the records that come in are actually very positive records. Such as regarding the commitment to strengthen professionalism, BI independence, and so on." he said.