Erick Thohir To SOE Directors: Must Open Yourself To Private And MSMEs, Red Plate Companies Can't Do Cartels

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

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir said that SOE directors must be open to cooperating with other parties. He also reminded state-owned companies not to carry out cartels, especially the current COVID-19 pandemic.

"There can no longer be one SOE and the other can become a cartel. Trade each other, supply each other, whether it's uniform, whether it's drinking water," he said at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, Friday, September 3.

Not only that, Erick also emphasized that SOEs should not become ivory towers. According to him, state-owned companies must be willing to cooperate with the private sector and small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This appeal, said Erick, has been implemented in the form of a ministerial regulation (permen) regarding the procurement of goods and services for state-owned companies.

Erick said, in line with the issuance of the regulation, the Ministry of SOEs formed the MSME Digital Market (PADi) which brought together SOEs with micro to medium-sized companies. Through PADi UMKM, state-owned companies can encourage local product shopping transactions.

"Thank God, we have tested the initiation for more than a year, which was originally started by 20 SOEs, now all SOEs are in the SOEs cluster of 12, (below) there are 43 companies. Thank God it's been consolidated," he said.

Furthermore, Erick said PADi MSMEs have also succeeded in cooperating with 9,600 MSME players with a total transaction value of Rp. 10.3 trillion until August 2021. Erick is optimistic that the transaction value can increase up to 10 times. Even so, he requested that the quality of the MSME products be maintained.

"So the curation, the standard, must be appropriate. It is important to take sides with TKDN and ensure that standards do not lower so that SOEs can compete in the global market," he explained.