EVENING prayers had just been called from the Baiturrahman Mosque in the House of Representatives (DPR) compound in Senayan, Jakarta, when around 20 members of Commission XI—in charge of finance and banking—gathered in the leaders’ office, on Tuesday of last week. That evening, they were scheduled to meet with Bank Indonesia leaders to discuss the central bank’s proposed annual budget.

Bank Indonesia Governor Darmin Nasution and the ban