Bahlil Says The Minister's Salary Is Not More Than Rp. 20 Million And Not More Prosperous Than The Entrepreneur's Profession: Don't Think Being An Official Is A Lot Of Money

Minister of Investment/Head of BKPM Bahlil Lahadalia. (Photo: Screenshot of Youtube Hipmi TV)

JAKARTA - The Investment Minister and the Head of the Investment Coordinating Board, Bahlil Lahadalia, shared his experience after about three years in the cabinet. According to him, being a bureaucrat is not more prosperous than the profession of an entrepreneur.

"What do you think the minister's salary is? The minister's salary is not more than Rp. 20 million. He just has a solid style, every time he attends he is always at the forefront," he said at the Indonesia Economic Outlook 2022 meeting in Jakarta, Tuesday, January 25.

Bahlil's outspoken attitude drew laughter from the participants present. The head of BKPM is indeed known as a person who is. This flexibility brought Bahlil to success as an entrepreneur before being appointed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) as a minister.

Furthermore, Bahlil was quite surprised by the mindset of today's young generation, the majority of whom still want work as employees rather than entrepreneurs.

“When I was the General Chair of Hipmi (Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association), I once surveyed students from Aceh from Papua to as many as 5.7 million people. Of them, 83 percent want to become employees. Politicians and NGOs are 14 percent. While those who want to become entrepreneurs are only 3 percent. But when asked if they want to be rich, they all say they want to be rich, I was surprised too,” he said, to which the audience smiled again.

For this reason, he supports the efforts of relevant government agencies to intensively educate about the benefits and virtues of entrepreneurship. So that the younger generation who have completed their education do not depend on existing jobs, but instead create opportunities to open up work opportunities for others by becoming entrepreneurs.

“So this is a choice between wanting to be a rich person and the instruments to achieve that, it's counterproductive. I don't understand what economics says if you become an employee you will get rich. So it is impossible for employees to be rich, unless God wills otherwise," he said.

"So don't think that officials have a lot of money, there isn't any. The authority is yes (big)," said Bahlil.