THE news that is currently causing a real commotion originated from Bank Indonesia (BI). On Friday two weeks ago, Halim Alamsyah, the BI Director for Banking Research and Regulations, "leaked" the plan of Temasek Holdings to release its share ownership in PT Bank Internasional Indonesia Tbk (BII). The next day, this news made the headlines in several daily newspapers.

The banking industry was certainly startled by this sudden news because Temasek is