Urges The Government To Take A Firm Position On BLBI Recap Bonds, LPEKN Economic Observer 'Sentil' Conglomerate Anthony Salim

Economic observer of the State Economic and Financial Research Institute (LPEKN), Sasmito Hadinegoro. (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - Economic observer from the State Economic and Financial Research Institute (LPEKN), Sasmito Hadinegoro asked the government to take a firm stance on the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) recap bond by stopping interest payments (moratorium) as soon as possible.

In addition to burdening state finances and sacrificing the rights of the lowly people because people's taxes are used to further enrich the conglomerate owners of banks, the payment of recap bond interest also makes these conglomerates increasingly dominate the lives of many people.

According to him, the conglomerate that owns the bank should be the one responsible for the 1998 economic crisis. But strangely, until now, the state continues to finance them through this recap bond instrument. Yet the price of energy and food continues to rise and is borne by the people.

The government pays the conglomerates out of state money, and these conglomerates go through a variety of different but affiliated companies to buy back strategic state assets such as productive toll roads.

"This is tantamount to giving them capital to buy productive state assets. So it has become the cause of the 1998 crisis, even now they have taken all the strategic assets of the state," said Sasmito in Jakarta, Wednesday, July 13.

Sasmito said this was referring to the news of the purchase of the Jakarta-Cikampek (MBZ) elevated toll road belonging to Jasa Marga which was purchased by one of the Salim groups for Rp 4 trillion. In fact, according to Sasmito, the Salim Group during the 1998 krismon, apart from receiving the BLBI, also received recap bonds whose interest has been paid by the state to this day.

For BLBI in the form of hard cash, the Salim Group, according to Sasmito, should be suspected of receiving Rp. 33 trillion in BLBI which he only paid with Rp. 8 trillion + 93 percent of BCA shares. Then the BCA shares were sold by the government for only Rp. 5 trillion for 50 percent ownership, aka sold for a total of Rp. 10 trillion and it was considered paid off.

But in fact the Salim Group is at the same time so smart, said Sasmito, it should be suspected that it could manipulate to take credit from the bank under its control, namely BCA, amounting to Rp53 trillion. Of the Rp53 trillion, when it was collected by IBRA, it only paid Rp100 billion plus handed over all 108 companies.

However, out of these 108 companies, when they were sold on sale, the state only got Rp. 20 trillion. With this fact, Sasmito said firmly, the Salim Group is considered to have paid off its obligations properly, allegedly regulated through the signing of the Master Settlement Agreement Acquisition (MSAA) so that it is considered paid off by the state.

And now that 18 years have passed, the group has easily acquired a 40 percent stake in the MBZ Jakarta-Cikampek Toll Road at a cost of IDR 4 trillion.

"The phenomenon of the game of the Salim Group tycoon who is buying up state assets and is perched as the 3rd richest person in Indonesia, according to Forbes, can be observed by the BLBI Special Committee of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD RI) for alleged collusion or hengki between the group and policy makers. how come the debt is finally paid off," said Sasmito.

In fact, according to Sasmito, at the same time BCA also holds recap bonds worth Rp. 60 trillion which receives interest payments or coupons from the government of Rp. 6 trillion a year.

Conglomerates such as the Salim Group, according to Sasmito, should be the main concern of the BLBI Task Force and the DPD RI BLBI Special Committee because they are so detrimental to the state and instead become rulers of important state assets.

"The buyback of BCA, which now has a market value of up to Rp1,000 trillion, should be a valuable experience. Why is a conglomerate that is clearly detrimental to the state, why is it allowed to have an important asset, Bank BCA, which was already owned by the state at that time. Now the toll roads are the same, right? This is an important toll road, owned by a state-owned company, even though it wants to be acquired using recap interest money," said Sasmito.

Sasmito also asked that the interest payments on the BLBI recap be stopped because it was too burdensome for the state's finances.

"There is still a recap interest that the state continues to pay. Stop it, a moratorium," he concluded.