Ahok Is Confused with the Salary at Pertamina: The CEO of a Subsidiary Can Get IDR 100 Million per Month

Ahok bersama dengan Presiden Joko Widodo (Jokowi). (Foto: Instagram @basukibtp)

JAKARTA - The President Commissioner of Pertamina, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok), said that the position of director or commissioner in the giant Indonesian oil and gas company is very thick with political lobbying and division of positions.

According to Ahok, the replacement of the board of directors wasn't discussed with him. But, directly to the SOE Minister.

"He could even change directors without telling me. I was angry too. So, all the directors lobbied the minister. The commissioner was also deposited on average by the ministries," Ahok said as quoted from the YouTube POIN video. , Wednesday, September 16.

Furthermore, according to Ahok, even the president cannot exercise control over management in state-owned companies.

Seeing this bad practice, Ahok admitted that he won't just sit idly by his position as the President Commissioner Pertamina. Ahok made some repair at the state-owned company. One of them is by proposing a position through an open auction.

According to Ahok, Indonesia needs more people who can work honestly to be deployed in state-owned companies, one of which is Pertamina.

"The main thing is, to be honest. Honesty and loyalty do not have schools. We pray that, in Indonesia, the fields can be ready for good seeds to be sown," he said.

In the video, Ahok also mentioned about the salary at Pertamina. He said that it didn't make sense. He also often found Pertamina officials are still receiving large salary facilities even though they had been removed from their positions.

"People who are removed from the position of president director of a subsidiary, for example, is paid more than IDR 100 million. The position is removed, but the salary is still the same. The reason is that he is an old-timer. The salary should be following the position, but they make a large base salary," he said.

"So, imagine a person who works for several years. His salary of IDR 75 million has been removed.  It's crazy. I think it can be prosecuted. So that's what we want to change, the system," he continued.

Ironically, said Ahok, this state-owned company has a lot of debt. It is because Pertamina didn't reduce expenditure, but instead, chose to go into debt.

"Pertamina now owes 16 billion United States (US) dollars. Every time the brain borrows some money. I have been upset about this. I continue to borrow money, want to continue acquisitions, I say they don't think about exploration, even though we still have 12 things that have the potential to have oil, have gas. So what are you doing? I think there is a commission for buying oil outside," he said.