Economist Bills Jokowi Campaign Promise To Complete Mega BLBI Scandal

Economic and Political Observer of the State Economic and Financial Research Institute (LPEKN) Sasmito Hadinagoro. (Photo: By courtesy)

JAKARTA - Economic and Political Observer of the State Economic and Financial Research Institute (LPEKN) Sasmito Hadinagoro again claims Joko Widodo (Jokowi) 's campaign promises in the 2014 presidential election that have not been fulfilled to date. One of them is the completion of the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) mega scandal which caused trillions of rupiah in state finances.

"Let's fight forgetting. We collect Jokowi's promise during the 2014 presidential election campaign," said Sasmito in a written statement, Monday, April 19.

According to him, the big theme of Joko Widodo's campaign is the eradication of corruption. And the biggest corruption in the history of this republic is the BLBI mega scandal. For this reason, the people are obliged to remind the Jokowi government not to forget their promises.

Moreover, in fact, the promise of completing and enforcing the BLBI Gate was echoed during the 2014 presidential election campaign. But until now, the effort to resolve the BLBI scandal worth hundreds of trillions is like far from the fire, it even seems that the BLBI Gate case was deliberately forgotten by this government.

In fact, he continued, he had already presented a number of data about this scandal, including in the era of President Susilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY). Unfortunately, the data about BLBI Gate is ignored.

"We want to emphasize that the BLBI Gate case is burdensome and a burden for future generations," he said.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla had previously conveyed the heavy burden of the BLBI Gate. When addressing the Indonesian Economists Association (ISEI), Jusuf Kalla admitted that the interest expense for ex-BLBI recap bonds of tens of trillions is burdensome for state finances.

Based on the data, up to the end of the term of President SBY in power in 2014, it is reasonable to suspect that Rp960 trillion in state funds, 70 percent of which came from taxes paid by the people from Sabang to Merauke, was misused. Even Rp. 600 trillion in public tax money was used to pay for the interest subsidy on ex-BLBI recap bonds.

"I bluntly convey this. In fact, the state-owned banks (Mandiri-ed) have actually, since they were given interest subsidies for ex-BLBI recap bonds, have been the biggest looters of public funds by pocketing fictitious recap bonds of Rp73 trillion," he explained.

With an average ex-BLBI recap bond interest rate of 10 percent per year, public funds in one of the state-owned recap banks have succeeded in breaking into fresh BLBI Gate funds. Attempts to break in were seen in the era of Mandiri Directors Agus Martowardojo and Pahala Mansury.

"It should be presumed that both of them should be examined by the KPK. Because in 2010-2012 they succeeded in selling government recapitalization bonds of Rp. 56 trillion to Bank of England, Standard Chartered," he explained.

Furthermore, Sasmito again asked for the government's commitment to complete the BLBI Gate.

This is important considering that the country needs hundreds of trillions of rupiah for the people's economic recovery in the midst of the corona pandemic.

"Let's work hard with honesty, transparency and accountability in accordance with Law No. 17 of 2003 that the public has the right to know about the problems of state financial governance," he explained.

Sasmito also criticized the government's steps to confiscate several assets claimed to belong to the state. Even though in plain view there are government assets such as BCA whose value reaches Rp. 700 trillion.

"As a citizen, I still care about the economic condition of the country which is experiencing a large deficit, ready to help in the interests of the country. I am also serious about helping the government complete the BLBI Gate with the data it has," he concluded.