Conglomerate Chairul Tanjung Believes Illegal Loans Will Not End If Just Raided: Improve Community Welfare!

Conglomerate and senior entrepreneur Chairul Tanjung. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Senior entrepreneur Chairul Tanjung (CT) gave his views on the phenomenon of online loans (pinjol) which is currently rife in the community. According to him, this condition cannot be separated from the current pandemic situation.

"The problem with this illegal loan we must know is that actually the condition of the lower middle class is experiencing a tremendous pandemic effect. They do not have the ability to endure so their needs are urgent. As a result, they come to illegal borrowings,” he said while speaking at the Nahdlatul Ulama seminar, on Saturday, December 11.

CT added, the proliferation of illegal loans is a form of social transformation of the existence of moneylenders who actually exist in the midst of society.

“In fact, we know that this illegal loan is the digitization of moneylenders. They are moneylenders who use digital transformation as their vehicle,” he said.

Therefore, continued CT, the information technology bandage carried by 'loan lenders 4.0' will not bring benefits because the essence of what is offered remains the same, namely debt bondage.

“As a result, people who are already struggling are not fixing their problems but instead creating problems. Why? Because this illegal loan has very high interest rates and continues to roll up, causing new problems,” he said.

The CT Corp boss also hopes that the government can provide a comprehensive solution to existing social phenomena and not only take action at the surface level.

“But this is the dilemma of our little people. If we are not able to handle it then the raid (illegal loan) will not solve the problem. In fact, the main problem is how we improve people's welfare," he said.

In the previous VOI report, it was stated that the Financial Services Authority (OJK) had blocked 3,734 illegal loans from 2018 to November 2021. Meanwhile, the number of official loans according to OJK as of the end of last month was recorded as 104 entities.

In terms of disbursement of funds, the accumulation of credit for this peer-to-peer lending institution continued to grow positively reaching Rp.262.93 trillion or an increase of 104.30 percent year-on-year (yoy) until the third quarter of 2021. Meanwhile, outstanding loans amounted to Rp.27.48 trillion. or grew 116.18 percent yoy.