Erick Thohir Targets BUMN Bill To Be Completed In September 2023

SOE Minister Erick Thohir (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir targets the Draft State-Owned Enterprises Bill (RUU BUMN) to be completed this month.

According to him, this BUMN Bill can be a strengthening basis for answering challenges in state-owned companies.

"This SOE serves many ministries and this is why one of the programs, hopefully I don't know if this September can be a goal, namely regarding the bill," Erick said in a working meeting with Commission VI of the DPR at the DPR Building, Jakarta, written Friday, September 1.

Erick hopes that Commission VI of the DPR will hold talks with other commissions in the DPR to help accelerate the BUMN Bill.

He said this bill would provide clarity, one of which was about the government's assignment to SOEs.

"One of the things that we encourage in the BUMN Bill is how assignments must be synchronized from the start between the ministers who assigned, Mnekeu, the Minister of SOEs and continue to be supervised by Commission VI," he said.

With the BUMN Bill, Erick assessed that the assignment to SOEs would be clearer and less in pieces.

This was also driven by the agreement of three ministers in writing on every assignment given to BUMN.

"The next five-year program of government can only be corrected if there is direct intervention, okay, president," he said.

"It's not the intervention of each ministry that sometimes doesn't solve the issue called PSN to maintain our economic growth but how to also ensure services to our society," he continued.

In the bill, said Erick, it will also include regulations for state capital participation (PMN) which are often a polemic as a bad thing.

In fact, according to him, there is a dividend or deposit donation provided by SOEs.

"It's as if it's only been injected but the dividends are not recorded. Talking about the business world, it's usually 70 percent of the debt, the capital is 30 percent, if this is clear, the capital is 65 percent, the debt is only 35 percent," he said.

Even so, Erick did not deny that there are still state-owned companies that are not healthy.

He also admitted that from the start he had mapped SOEs based on their condition, from those who were healthy, unwell, and sick that could not be saved.

Not only SOEs, said Erick, mapping was also carried out thoroughly to the children and grandchildren of state-owned companies. In fact, he also issued a ministerial regulation (Permen) prohibiting SOEs from establishing children or grandchildren of state-owned enterprises.

"I closed 133 children (BUMN), so maybe later, Mr. Deputy Minister, next month we will close again," he said.