DSI Proposed to Remain a Persero and Form a New BLU to Avoid Conflicts of Interest

ILLUSTRATION BETWEEN

JAKARTA - The discussion of the formation of PT Danantara Sumberdaya Indonesia (DSI) as an instrument for arranging the export of natural resources is considered unnecessary to be followed by a change in the status of the company into a Public Service Agency (BLU). The government is encouraged to form a new institution that specifically handles the functions of supervision and analysis of national commodity trade.

This was conveyed by Major General (Ret.) Achmad Adipati Karnaeidjaja, saying that the government should not only focus on the legal form of the DSI. A strong and conflict-free trade supervision system should also be a concern.

"In many discussions, public attention is too focused on DSI as a company. In fact, the real need of the country is a strong trade surveillance and analysis instrument," said the Duke through his statement, Friday, June 12.

According to him, changing DSI into BLU is not the most ideal choice. In addition to being designed as a Persero from the beginning, this change in status has the potential to cause legal, administrative, and governance issues that are not simple.

Therefore, the Duke proposed that DSI continue to carry out business functions in accordance with the mandate given by the government, while the oversight function is placed in a separate institution that does not have commercial interests.

"The safer thing is to form a new BLU, not to change DSI into a BLU," he said.

Furthermore, the Duke also proposed the establishment of the National Strategic Analysis Center for Commodity Trade, which is tasked with conducting global price analysis, validating the reasonableness of export transactions, monitoring export proceeds, and detecting transfer pricing and under invoicing practices.

The model is more capable of avoiding conflicts of interest than placing business functions and supervisory functions in the same institution.

"The state must know all strategic data of national trade. But the state must also ensure that the data does not turn into a tool for competition that harms business actors," he said.

He assessed that Indonesia currently has many institutions that regulate the trade and natural resources sectors. However, it does not have an integrated analysis center that is able to integrate data from various institutions such as the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, Directorate General of Taxes, PPATK, Bank Indonesia, Ministry of Trade, to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.

Therefore, the institution he proposed is expected to become a national trade analysis center by utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) technology to read export price anomalies, identify patterns of unnatural transactions, and provide early warnings to the government.

In addition to being a center for analysis, the institution is also expected to serve as a guardian of national trade data that maintains the confidentiality of contracts, invoices, buyer data, export volumes, and payment information that have been strategic assets for business actors.

The Duke said the establishment of the new BLU could be carried out without complex regulatory changes because the legal basis was already available in various rules regarding state financial management.

"A country does not have to be a trader to be strong. A country becomes strong when it has accurate data, superior analytical capabilities, and a surveillance system that is able to detect irregularities before losses occur," wrote the Duke.

According to him, this approach can be a middle ground in efforts to strengthen the governance of natural resource exports. DSI will continue to serve as an economic instrument of the state, while the supervisory function is carried out by an independent institution that has no business interests.

With this model, the agenda for arranging national exports is expected not to stop at the formation of new companies, but actually to be a reform of governance that strengthens the country's ability to maintain national natural wealth.