Sri Mulyani Hates 'Idling' State Assets: That Means Betraying People's Money

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: screenshot of the Ministry of Finance Youtube)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani stated that one of the work units under her leadership had serious challenges in maximizing its role.

According to her, these challenges have the potential to hinder the performance to be achieved if they are not managed properly. In fact, the state treasurer considered that the inhibiting element was something that must be fought in order to achieve the goal of serving the community.

"DJKN (Directorate General of State Assets) as the retainer of state assets has a very real big enemy, namely the occurrence of idle assets that are useless," she said through a virtual channel during a speech at the 2021 Auction Awards ceremony, Monday, November 15.

Menkeu is called the Minister of Finance if this condition is tantamount to sacrificing the interests of the public because the resources used to obtain state assets are sourced from the tax levies of the Indonesian people.

“It means that we betrayed the state finances and the people's finances because the assets turned out to be idle. Therefore, this is homework, and I ask DJKN and the user satker (work units) in ministries and institutions not only to ask for a development budget and then not think about its use optimally," she explained.

The Minister of Finance also reminded the ministries/agencies to properly plan every proposal for a state-owned procurement budget.

"We must also think about what these assets are used for, what their value is, their economic value, and the value of their efficiency in supporting the task of serving the community," she asserted.

For information, the value of state property (BMN) until the close of 2020 is IDR 6.585 trillion. This figure is recorded at 59.3 percent of the total state assets in the balance sheet, which amounts to 11.098 trillion.