Empty SOE Minister Position Left By Erick Thohir, Discourse On Merger To Danantara Strengthens
JAKARTA - The seat of the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) is empty, after Erick Thohir left.
In the midst of this vacancy, the discourse of merging the Ministry of SOEs to the Anagata Nusantara Resources Investment Management Agency or Danantara Indonesia emerged.
As is known, President Prabowo inaugurated Erick Thohir as Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora) replacing Dito Ariotedjo on Wednesday, September 17.
Until now, President Prabowo has not announced who will replace Erick Thohir.
BUMN observer and NEXT Indonesia Center Director Herry Gunawan said the discourse on the merger of the Ministry of SOEs to Danantara Indonesia might happen.
Given the main function of the Ministry of SOEs, in this case the management of SOEs has been taken over by Danantara.
Based on the BUMN Law (UU), continued Herry, state-owned companies are no longer separated state assets, but as private institutions.
This is stated in the BUMN Law Number 25, article 4A paragraph (5).
"Thus, those that apply to the current BUMN rules should be the same as other private corporations. For this reason, regulations from the Ministry of SOEs are no longer needed," he told VOI, Thursday, September 18.
According to Herry, the best practice in neighboring countries also shows the same thing. Like Singapore, which has Temasek and Malaysia with Khazanah, it is a superior sovereign wealth fund (SWF). Both countries do not have a Ministry of SOEs.
"Especially as the best practice, in Singapore which has good SWFs such as Temasek, because it contributes greatly to state revenues, it also does not require the Ministry of SOEs. Likewise with Malaysia which has Khazanah, SWF with good performance," he said.
Therefore, said Herry, there is no obstacle for President Prabowo to dissolve the Ministry of SOEs. Moreover, the ministry has almost lost its function.
"That's enough, the guidelines for managing SOEs come from Danantara and from other authorities such as BI and OJK or other authorities," he said.
The Government Has Not Planned A BUMN-Dantara Holiday
Minister of State Secretary (Mensesneg) Prasetyo Hadi said there was no plan to merge the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) with the Danantara Investment Management Agency (BPI).
This is related to the inauguration of Erick Thohir, who previously served as Minister of SOEs, now becomes Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora).
"Not yet, right now it's in the process," Prasetyo told reporters, Wednesday, September 17.
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Menurutnya, BPI Danantara sedang membenahi manajemen dan operasional BUMN. Sehingga, perihal tersebut membutuhkan waktu.
Namun, jika nantinya memang diperlukan langkah pengubahan, maka, pemerintah akan mengkaji kemungkinan tersebut.
“Danantara juga sedang proses membenahi manajemen dan operasional di BUMN-BUMN kita, nah kalau kemudian nanti dalam perjalanannya itu kita perlu melakukan perubahan terhadap Kementeriannya nanti kita lihat,” ungkapnya.
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According to him, BPI Danantara is fixing the management and operations of SOEs. So, this matter takes time.
However, if later steps are needed to change, the government will examine this possibility.
"The aerospace is also in the process of fixing management and operations in our SOEs, so later on the trip we need to make changes to the Ministry later we will see," he said.