THE happy atmosphere was very apparent during the general meeting of the shareholders of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) at the Shangri-La Hotel, Jakarta, on Thursday last week. The face of BNI's Managing Director Gatot Suwondo still looked fresh even though he had had to remain sitting for more than two hours. The deputy director was often to be seen smiling as were other members of the board of directors.

BNI's management was happy because the bank's s