Politics Reply To Budi Election Of BUMN Commissioners: Lasts Forever Even Though Many Companies Lose

Illustration of BUMN (Source: bumn.go.id)

JAKARTA - The appointment of supporters of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as commissioners of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) has drawn controversy. The reason is, this practice is referred to as a mere political retaliation. Most of the appointments of BUMN commissioners are considered disproportionate. This is something that continues to happen even though many state-owned companies are currently losing money.

This polemic has re-emerged after the appointment of former Slank guitarist Abdi Negara Nurdin or Abdee as Commissioner of PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk by SOE Minister Erick Thohir three days ago. Abdee, who is better known as a musician, is considered incompetent to work in a telecommunications company.

However, Telkom Indonesia Senior Vice President Corporate Communication & Investor Relations Ahmad Reza, as quoted by Kompas, explained that each appointment of commissioners has taken into account the competence of each individual. He said the appointment of Telkom's Commissioner had gone through several stages of selection.

Reza said that Abdee, who has an artist background, is also involved in the digital world and is considered a contributor to intellectual property rights issues. In addition, Abdee is also the Co-Founder of Importmusic.com, a digital music distribution company.

In the political world, Abdee is known as a loyal supporter of Jokowi. His track record as a supporter of Jokowi was seen when he participated in initiating the "Greeting 2 Finger Concert" at Gelora Bung Karno Jakarta on July 5, 2014.

Abdee Negara, (Photo: Doc. Antara)

His support continued when Jokowi again ran for president for a second term. In 2019, he returned to the mountains to win the Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin pair. This is the second time that Abdee has supported Jokowi in a straightforward manner. This was seen when he enlivened the "United White Concert Towards Victory Indonesia Forward Together with the #BarengJokowi Movement" on April 13, 2019.

Abdee is not the only one who has been appointed as Telkomsel's new commissioner. There are a number of other names that are familiar to the board of commissioners of this state-owned issuer, one of which is Bambang Soemantri Brodjonegoro, former Minister of Research and Technology.

Bambang served as President Commissioner replacing Rhenald Kasali. Besides Bambang, there is also a Special Staff of the Minister of SOEs, Arya Sinulingga. Then there is the person who was once called the Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani as "the richest person in Indonesia", namely the Director General of Budget of the Ministry of Finance Isa Rachmatarwata.

Controversy

Political observer Igor Dirgantara criticized the appointment of Abdee as Telkom's commissioner. According to him, maybe Abdee is not the right person to fill the position, but as a musician, his track record is indeed one of Jokowi's loyal supporters for two consecutive terms.

"Abdee is competent to play guitar and compose songs in a band, but has no competence at all as a commissioner in a BUMN, either managerially or functionally (problem solver). However, as a musician, Abdee's track record is indeed one of Jokowi's die hard supporters and volunteers. ," said Igor when contacted by VOI.

In fact, when referring to the SOE Ministerial Regulation/2/2015, it is stated that qualified competence in the appointment of members of the board of commissioners is one of the requirements. "Members of the board of commissioners must understand the company's management issues related to one of the management functions, and have adequate knowledge in their line of business," it was written.

That's why, according to Igor, the government, in this case the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises, should be honest with the public that the appointment of Abdee as Telkom's commissioner is part of a political reward. According to Igor, this can minimize public distrust of positions that should be chosen by involving public participation.

"If the government explains, at least the public can understand why Abdee Slank, not Inul Daratista, Iwan Fals or Ahmad Albar who is more senior and also supports Jokowi, for example. This can minimize public distrust of positions that should involve public participation. that Abdee Slank will also not be able to do anything for the progress of Telkom because he is not the right man in the right place," said Igor.

SOEs that lose

The appointment of commissioners by people who are judged to be incompetent continues to occur in the midst of the condition that many state-owned companies are listed as losing money. The news of the loss of the state-owned company is being widely heard. What is still warm is the news that the national airline, PT Garuda Indonesia, is in debt of IDR 70 trillion this year.

According to Garuda Indonesia Independent Commissioner Yenny Zannuba Wahid, Garuda is struggling so that the company coded as GIAA shares will not go bankrupt. In the midst of such dire conditions, he considered that the GIAA must be rescued. The main reason is because Garuda Indonesia is an airline that is the face of Indonesia.

"However, Garuda is our national flag carrier. It must be saved. Please support & pray," Yenny wrote on her Twitter account.

Apart from PT Garuda Indonesia, another state-owned company that is in heavy debt is Waskita Karya. Public Policy Observer, Sarwani in his writings in Neraca said, "This state-owned enterprise actually has to be admitted to the ICU to be rescued immediately. Otherwise, its fate will end in tragedy."

According to Waskita Karya's financial report as of December 31, 2020, as quoted by Sarwani, the total debt it bears is almost IDR 90 trillion. "With that amount of debt, Waskita Karya has to spend Rp4.74 trillion just to pay interest... The soaring debt is due to the increasing number of toll road projects being built by the company. The large debt burden has cost the company Rp7 trillion."

Meanwhile, a number of state-owned enterprises in the banking industry also slumped. Last year, the profits of the three state-owned banks that are members of the Association of State-Owned Banks (Himbara) declined compared to the previous year. The three banks include PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (BNI), PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI) and PT Bank Mandiri Tbk (Mandiri).

As quoted by Kontan, an example of a bank that lost money was PT Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (BNI). Last year's net profit fell quite deep to Rp3.28 trillion, down 78.7 percent compared to 2019 which was Rp15.38 trillion. Likewise, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BRI) whose revenue was eroded by almost half, namely 45.8 percent from Rp. 34.41 trillion in 2019, to Rp. 18.66 trillion in 2020.

Meanwhile, PT Bank Mandiri Tbk (Mandiri) decreased its profit by 37.71 percent. In 2019, the bank's profit with the gold ribbon logo was recorded at IDR 27.48 trillion, while last year the funds that were managed to obtain only IDR 17.71 trillion.

The number of BUMN companies that lost was validated by BUMN observer from the University of Indonesia (UI), Toto Pranoto. At least Toto said that there were seven state companies that were reportedly about to be dissolved by the SOE Ministry. The reason is that the seven companies have already harmed the state.

"Because their status is no longer operating. Then being maintained as a BUMN will certainly cause problems because they are still listed for example as BUMN assets but are actually not productive," said Toto in the IDX Channel's Newscreen Morning program in early May, quoted by Sindonews.

Compensation politics

Executive Director of Indonesia Political Review (IPR) Ujang Komarudin called the phenomenon of placing Jokowi's volunteers as state-owned commissioners as political compensation. In fact, Ujang said, the position of commissioner should be given to an expert.

"That's part of political compensation... What we really regret is that the position of commissioner should be given to an expert, or a volunteer who understands state-owned companies," said Ujang to VOI.

According to Ujang, although many state-owned companies are listed as losing money, stopping the practice of political retaliation is a necessity. Because, continued Ujang, our political climate is not healthy.

"Because our politics is not healthy. And SOEs are not healthy too. Because they are filled with volunteers who are not experts," he said. Then what is the ideal way to appoint a BUMN commissioner?

Still according to Ujang, it is difficult to find the ideal candidate to fill the SOE commissioner. Because the practice of political compensation, according to him, has taken root. "They know it's not good, but they do it anyway," he concluded.

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