Tanri Abeng: Alleged Corruption In Asabri Due To Directors And Commissioners Not Practicing 'Morals'

Former Minister of BUMN, Tanri Abeng. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Former State Minister for SOE Utilization, Tanri Abeng, said that the alleged corruption case that occurred at the Indonesian Armed Forces Social Insurance (Asabri) was due to ineffective supervision of the commissioners in the company.

"We've been following Asabri recently and this is due to less effective supervision than the commissioners," he said, during the soft launching of the book 'Akhlak Untuk Negeri' which was held virtually, Wednesday, January 6.

According to Tanri, the government has always been waiting for the results of audits by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), only then to thoroughly investigate the case and ask for accountability recently. In fact, he said, tightening supervision of the commissioners would certainly prevent losses from the start.

"We don't wait for the BPK to audit it it's too late, losses have already occurred, so this is what the supervisory board, namely members of the board of commissioners in particular, has to block," he explained.

Furthermore, Tanri said, the government, in this case the BUMN Ministry, needs to fix the appointment of directors and commissioners. This is because the appointed directors and commissioners often come from a different background than the assigned position. Thus, it is not uncommon for directors and commissioners to not understand the principles of corporate governance for the success of the company.

"In my opinion, not all commissioners and even directors now really understand global government standards. So they should still learn more and master the aspects of good corporate governance to carry out the role of control and supervision effectively," he said.

According to Tanri, if directors and commissioners do not understand good corporate governance, it is not impossible that BUMNs will experience corruption cases. As happened in Asabri.

As for corporate governance, Tanri refers to 5 principles, namely accountability, responsibility, transparency, fairness and ethical behavior. He said that these five principles were in line with the Moral principles applied by BUMN Minister Erick Thohir.

Erick encouraged the concept of Mandate, Competent, Harmonious, Loyal, Adaptive, and Cooperative (Akhlak) which had been formulated to be implemented by all levels of BUMN.

"What needs to be done so that the message and hopes from the Minister of BUMN in upholding legacy can be realized? If I may suggest, we need to start from the BUMN leadership itself, namely the directors and commissioners to implement Moral principles. So here it covers the prohibition of KKN practice," he explained. .

Tantri said, it is also important to imitate the success of existing multinational corporations to achieve the goal of becoming a world-class BUMN.

"Emulating the success of multinational corporations such as GE (general electric), Shell, Toyota etc., corporate governance with international standards needs to be consistently applied by all directors and commissioners of BUMN," he said.