Sri Mulyani

Newsweek edisi Jan 19, 2009, mengangkat topik "Davos: Recession Winner". Di bagian Southeast Asia yang ditampilkan Sri Mulyani, sebagai sang Srikandi. James Castle, konsultan bisnis memujinya dengan mengatakan, "She could be the finance minister anywhere in the world."

Di bawah ini beberapa potong kutipan dri artikel tersebut.

Indonesia is managing the global recession better than most, thanks to its tough finance minister...

Indeed, Indonesia is one of just three major emerging economies forecast to grow faster than 4 percent in 2009. The other two—China and India—have decelerated more rapidly in recent months and face tougher policy challenges. Mulyani says Indonesia could expand by as much as 5.5 percent this year, which is barely slower than the 6 percent it clocked in 2008, and perhaps enough to pip one of its two Asian counterparts in this year's growth race. Not bad, considering that the country's economy collapsed in 1998, shrinking 18 percent in a single year. Wolfgang Fengler, a senior economist at the World Bank, says Jakarta's macroeconomic management is now "as good as it gets."

Yet by raising pay for bureaucrats, and not demonizing those who previously took payoffs to make ends meet, she has raised standards and steeled a reputation as an incorruptible reformer. Her message to her staff is simple and positive: "I only have one goal: I want the Indonesian people to trust us, this department, because this country will go nowhere if the people don't start to trust their own government." Though nobody would yet describe Indonesia as a model of transparency, the changes in its taxation and customs administrations have been profound, and in turn have enhanced Indonesia's growth potential to the point that "the world needs to update the way it thinks about the country," wrote Nicholas Cashmore, CLSA investment bank's Indonesia analyst, in mid-2008, declaring: "Southeast Asia's largest economy is in great shape." And thanks to Mulyani, Indonesia is garnering more respect by the day.

Dari beberapa potong kutipan di atas rasanya kok ada harapan bagi masa depan negeri ini. Adalah leader yang relatif muda yang smart dan berani tegas, tidak korup di negeri ini. Semoga mengaspirasi yang lain.[Risfan Munir]