Streamlining SOE Jumbo Debt Management, Erick Thohir: We'll Sweep The Corrupt!

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN), Erick Thohir, revealed that his party is currently managing debt at state-owned companies to find out which debts are productive and which are corrupt. This is done to ensure that State Equity Participation (PMN) to SOEs is now more effective and on target.

Erick said the government would not give PMN arbitrarily to SOEs that did not provide benefits to the community. Currently, said Erick, the process of submitting PMN must be based on the agreement of three ministers, namely the Minister of SOEs, the Minister of Finance, and other technical ministers.

Erick took the example of submitting a PMN for an infrastructure BUMN that would involve Erick Thohir, Sri Mulyani, and Basuki Hadimuljono in agreeing on the need for a BUMN PMN. The goal is that this injection is misused for other purposes.

Because of the large amount of SOE debt, Erick admitted that he would not hesitate to brush off individuals in BUMN who did not use PMN funds according to the interests that had been determined.

"So if there are parties, why is the SOE's debt big? Yes, it is big. That's why we are now under the ministry, we are tidying up which are productive debts and which are corrupt debts. We will brush off the corrupt ones", he said, in a written statement received by VOI quoted Monday, March 21.

PMN for transformation

Erick said the contribution of SOEs to the state through taxes and dividends would reach IDR 377 trillion in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of PMNs given by the state to SOEs was only 4 percent of the total contribution of SOEs on a consolidated basis.

Furthermore, Erick said the PMN obtained was allocated to accelerate the transformation of SOEs. According to him, the transformation, from changes to business models to efficiency, has proven to be able to increase the valuation of shares owned by SOEs such as Telkom, Mandiri, and BRI which, in total, reaches IDR 1,600 trillion.

"Imagine the valuation of the three SOEs is already IDR 1,600 trillion", he said.

In addition, the former President of Inter Milan also emphasized his commitment to encouraging more SOEs to be listed on the stock exchange as part of the company's transparency and professionalism.

Erick said the Indonesian stock exchange is now listed as one of the best exchanges in Asia in terms of growth.

"Because one of them is BRI's corporate action, which is the largest corporate action in Southeast Asia, number two in Asia, and number seven in the world. Therefore, the stock exchange is very positive, so the impacts of healthy SOEs on the market are also positive", he said.