Dahlan Iskan Regrets That He Had Ever Been Minister Of BUMN

Dahlan Iskan. (Photo: Instagram @ dahlaniskan19)

JAKARTA - Former Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Dahlan Iskan admits that he regrets being a minister. Because, he felt that he failed to build a BUMN when he became a minister during the 2011-2014 period. One of them is because BUMN in the food sector is smaller than BUMN in the business sector.

Dahlan said, from the start he felt that he was wrong to be Minister of BUMN because he did not agree with the existence of BUMN that was too dominant. According to him, the existence of BUMN hinders the community from doing business. Finally, he agreed with the existence of BUMN, but provided that BUMN had to go public.

"I used to talk when I was appointed as Minister of BUMN that in fact the president was wrong to appoint me as Minister of BUMN. Because I actually do not agree that BUMN is too dominant. The country was founded for the welfare of the people, not for doing business," he said, in a video conference with journalists. , Monday, 18 May.

According to Dahlan, SOEs make the country do business. Then it is as if to make the country compete with its people. Therefore, according to him, the pattern must be changed. BUMN food must be bigger than business.

Dahlan said, food security which is part of state resilience should be fulfilled by building a super large food BUMN.

"Actually, I felt that my failure when I became a minister was when I pushed for SOEs to have companies in the food sector that were as giant as they could be. Because these BUMNs belong to the state while food is state security. It should not be that BUMN in the food sector is smaller than BUMN in the business sector. , "he said.

Furthermore, he admitted, he was very embarrassed when BUMN in the food sector lost its performance with the private meatball business. He considered it a bit embarrassing if BUMN were strong in fields that were not too related to state resilience, but were very weak in fields that were directly related to the public interest.

"I feel like a failure here. In fact, I almost became a victim there. At that time I was very concerned that the BUMN in the food sector was losing to Bakso Blok S," he said.

Failed to Make Indonesia Exporters of Tropical Fruits

According to Dahlan, it is very embarrassing the ability of BUMN in the export sector. In fact, exports are a weapon that is indispensable for the state but SOEs are very weak in this field. He admitted that when he was a minister he had a mission to make Indonesia superior as a fruit exporter.

"At that time, I said that we had to make 5,000 hectares of Durian plantations, 5,000 hectares of Banana plantations, basically tropical fruit must be Indonesia's mainstay. Because developed countries generally have four seasons and cannot produce tropical fruit," he said.

Dahlan thought, people in developed countries have high incomes. That is, the level of fruit consumption is very high. Because, they tend to maintain better health and think fruit is one part of maintaining that health.

"So the superiority of Indonesia, which has a very long territory from West to East in a tropical country, why not produce large-scale tropical fruit. Finally, when I stopped being a minister, thousands of these tropical fruit plantations had already been planted in West Java. But I heard that three years later, many were damaged, "he said.

According to Dahlan, Indonesia can beat China by becoming a major exporter of tropical fruit. Because, China cannot compete with this. Indonesia's superiority as a tropical country must be exploited.

"Indonesia must excel in tropical fruit production. That is why our export weapon which China cannot fight. So we are attacked by consumer goods from China, but we must be able to invade China with tropical fruit. There (China) now people are getting crazy. eat Durian, but the famous Durian is Durian from Thailand and now from Malaysia billions of durians are needed there, "he said.

Internal SOEs Are Not Healthy

According to Dahlan, BUMN companies are not necessarily able to be like private companies whose programs are so large that they can survive. This is because SOEs are closely related to political issues. When changes occur in the political field, BUMNs may also change. So that long-term missions are usually the victims.

Dahlan revealed that he had difficulties when he was still serving as minister of BUMN. The difficulty is because directors in state-owned companies often quarrel with fellow directors or managing directors (directors).

"When I became a minister, I saw what was difficult in BUMN was that the directors often fought for influence. The directors often quarreled with the president or fellow directors," he said.

According to Dahlan, the attitude of the directors was followed by the staff under him, so that each one had internal followers. In fact, sometimes, the directors of these companies also seek outside support. Starting from politicians to higher officials.

Thus, if there are five directors in a state-owned company, he said, then each director could have their own boss.

"Symptoms like that are not very good. Moreover, the directors sometimes seek outside backing, whether he is a politician or a higher-ranking official. When I became Minister of BUMN, I didn't want that to happen. I only wanted the president director. The loyal director had to be the president," he explained.