Canada has again called for Indonesia to quickly resolve the controversial Manulife bankruptcy case before it affects Canadian business investments in the country. Indonesia’s legal system and reputation came under question two weeks ago after a ruling by the Central Jakarta Commercial Court that Indonesia’s fourth largest life insurer, Manulife Indonesia, was bankrupt.

The court declared Manulife bankrupt for failing to pay 1999 dividends and appointed a curator to take over the insurer’s life business. Manulife is appealing the decision to the Supreme Court.

Indonesia has already warned Canada not to get involved in the case but its calls have been ignored. Canadian Secretary of State for Asia Pacific David Kilgour, who visited Indonesia last week, told the nation’s officials to move faster with the case.

“We stressed with the people we met with that time is of the essence,” he said. “Manulife won’t be here unless things happen very quickly.”

Mr Kilgour warned that if Manulife lost the battle investments would be seriously affected. “I met with the business community a few days ago and they are all very, very concerned about this matter. It would affect investments from Canada and… it might well affect investments from other countries,” he said.