Jokowi "Little Suharto": South China Morning Post Article Looking At Giving Away SOE Seats To Influencers

JAKARTA - Foreign media, the South China Morning Post (SCMP), calls President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) a "little Suharto." The article entitled 'Little Suharto'? Indonesian leader Widodo's places Twitter personalities, allies in key posts, sparking backlash revealed the appointment of several Jokowi supporters who were appointed as commissioners in State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) companies. In essence, SCMP views the New Order cronyism as living again in the Jokowi administration.

The debate over the appointment of Jokowi loyalists to become commissioners in several state-owned companies is indeed being talked about. Kristia Budiarto or often called Kang Dede, for example. The social media influencer, who has followers of nearly 100,000 people on Twitter, was appointed commissioner of the Pelni company.

Budiarto is known as a Jokowi loyalist. In last year's election, he often heaped praise on Jokowi's proposed programs and policies.

The public sphere became even more chaotic when State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Tohir, former head of the National Campaign Team during the 2019 Presidential Election, appointed three other social media figures to serve as commissioners in several companies. First, Ulin Yusron, a staunch supporter of Jokowi during the last two elections, has become the commissioner of the Indonesian Tourism Development Company.

Second, Dyah Kartika Rini, who helped Jokowi build a network of social media volunteers when he was running for governor of Jakarta in 2012. He also received a windfall as commissioner of the toll road operator, Jasa Raharja. Third, Eko Sulistyo, a figure who helped Jokowi in the 2005 election for mayor of Solo, is the current PLN commissioner.

Overall, SCMP noted that at least 17 Jokowi supporters, most of whom were his official campaign team last year, had been appointed as commissioners in the past year. Including the spokesman for the President Fadjroel Rachman who also serves as a commissioner at Waskita Karya. (The VOI editorial staff has written about which Jokowi volunteers in the 2019 Presidential Election are currently sitting on as commissioners of a number of BUMNs. Read the article here)

For BUMN, the role of the board of commissioners is to supervise and provide input on the management of the company. The Council itself does not have the capacity to make decisions. There are at least 142 BUMINs in Indonesia, and the monthly salary of a BUMN commissioner ranges from 80 million rupiah to 3 billion rupiah.

Ombudsman member Alamsyah Saragih to This Week in Asia sees this as a practice of cronyism. "This is a form of cronyism that the government sees as legal, but actually shows the decline of statesmanship in Indonesia," he said.

Alamsyah said that President Jokowi is now helpless because he has received many "bills" from his supporters. "As a result, they were given seats on the board of commissioners of state-owned companies," he said.

SCMP also touched on Jokowi's ambition to attract foreign investors on a large scale through the Omnibus Law. They mentioned that one way to achieve this goal was to appoint Prabowo Subianto as minister of defense.

The reason is that by partnering with Prabowo in his government, Jokowi will automatically strengthen the coalition in the House of Representatives because the Gerindra Party chaired by Prabowo is joining forces. As a result, at least Jokowi has the support of more than 74 percent of the total seats in the DPR.

"Jokowi does not have a strong support base. He relied on public figures and volunteers during the election to get supporters, and he knows he has an obligation to get even with them," said Sulfikar Amir, a processor with the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. .

"Jokowi was then caught in the oligarchic agenda, which he thought was in line with his goals. This agenda cannot be criticized, he is now only focused on increasing investment, and that brings us back to the Suharto era. He is a small Suharto, in my opinion," said Amir.

SCMP also explained the disappointment of social activists over the appointment of Ulin Yusron as commissioner. The reason is that he once ran into a problem exposing the identity of a man who was said to have planned to behead the president, but it was later proven that he was wrong. He then apologized and deleted the upload, although the captured image of the upload can still be found on the internet.

According to Amir, a professor of social science at NTU, this gave rise to a sense of injustice. As a result of this there was a feeling that the only thing that needed to be done to gain a sleek position in a state-owned company was to boldly defend the president on social media.

"Ordinary people who have worked hard just to survive are understandably annoyed at hearing that these people were being paid large sums for doing nothing. SOEs may also not benefit from their appointment, because they don't have power. executives to create impact, "said Amir.

Based on the Ombudsman's findings last year, 397 commissioners of BUMN, and 167 commissioners in BUMN subsidiaries, also work as high-ranking officials in ministries or state institutions. According to the Ombudsman, this is a practice that violates the law in Indonesia.

"There has not been any significant progress in eradicating cronyism in Indonesia since reform," said Alamsyah, a member of the Ombudsman. "The government has not shown a strong determination to improve the management of BUMN, they are still applying the old way of managing it, namely using it as a political cash cow."

BUMN Minister Erick Thohir admits that many parties have entrusted his name to him as commissioners and directors of companies at the state-owned company. But according to him it is commonplace. He also did not deny that these names were also taken into consideration in reforming the management of BUMN.

"It is normal that I think [there is a deposit], but the important thing is the competence and the process is good. If it is submitted, [black and white] yes, that's what we want. Not all of them are accepted, the proof is that many are disappointed too," he said. Erick on the program "Mata Najwa" broadcast on Trans7, August 5th.

Erick said that so far only 10 percent of the total custodians had passed, and that had to go through a process determined by the ministry. One of them is having to go through the final assessment team (TPA) process. The TPA process this time is also claimed to be different from the previous TPA process, apart from asking the president for consideration, at this stage input from the relevant ministers is also needed.

In addition, background checks are also mandatory to determine the track record of the candidate for commissioner. The most important thing, said Erick, was that the candidate had to be capable and contributive to the company he was in.