Kwik vows to continue fight against 'black' conglomerates<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Former chief economics minister Kwik Kian Gie
\nvowed on Monday to continue the battle against "black"
\nconglomerates.<\/p>\n
Kwik said he would return to the House of Representatives
\n(DPR) as a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
\n(PDI Perjuangan) to strike back at the so called black
\nconglomerates and fight on behalf of the poor who had long been
\nsidelined and oppressed.<\/p>\n
"God seems to be leading me back to my habitat, the DPR, and
\nfrom there I am instructed to represent the interests of the
\nmillions of poor who have been oppressed, sidelined,
\nsuffering...," he said in a speech at the official transfer of
\nduty to newly appointed Coordinating Minister for Economy Rizal
\nRamli.<\/p>\n
But Kwik, known as an economics commentator before his
\nappointment to the Cabinet, said that he would not become a
\nmember of the opposition. "I will be a "working partner" for the
\neconomics ministers to debate government policy," he added.<\/p>\n
Kwik said that since his appointment as the coordinating
\neconomics minister 10 months ago, one of his primary missions was
\nto make "corrections," and to force bad conglomerates to repay
\nall that they had robbed from the state and from tax payers.<\/p>\n
"But it turned out that the road in front of me was already
\nfull of mines scattered by the black conglomerates. Using the
\nmoney they robbed they took any measure to stop me, particularly
\ncharacter assassination," he said.<\/p>\n
According to Kwik, although the campaign against him was
\nsuccessful among the elite, it was not believed by the people.<\/p>\n
Kwik said that the bad conglomerates had robbed trillions of
\nrupiah and stashed it safely in overseas banks, particularly in
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
He said that with just a small portion of the interest income
\nfrom the deposits and backed by a network within the bureaucracy,
\nthey were able to protect their interests.<\/p>\n
"They have their own people and slaves everywhere, including
\nin IBRA, where their main problems are located," he said,
\nreferring to the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency.<\/p>\n
He explained that one example was the Master of Settlement and
\nAcquisition Agreement (MSAA) made by the previous administration
\nwith huge conglomerates to repay the debts of their banks to the
\ngovernment.<\/p>\n
Kwik said that under the agreement, the bank owners who had
\nundoubtedly violated banking regulations, were freed from their
\ncrimes by simply pledging personal assets to repay the money they
\nowed to the government.<\/p>\n
Kwik launched a campaign to revise the MSAA agreement because
\nimplementing it would put the state at risk of incurring huge
\nlosses.<\/p>\n
He asked the House to provide political support, but, so far,
\nthe House has only formed an investigation team.<\/p>\n
He said that the bad conglomerates had paid analysts to
\ninitiate a disinformation campaign suggesting that if they were
\njailed, the companies they founded and built would go bankrupt
\nand many employees would lose their jobs.<\/p>\n
"They created a false theory that the founders are the spirit
\nof the companies, and that if they were removed from the
\ncompanies they would go bankrupt," he said.<\/p>\n
"So the robber barons are being hailed as the saviors of
\nlabor.<\/p>\n
"... It was said in the meeting room of Bina Graha (the
\nPresidential office) that Sinivasan, Syamsul Nursalim and Prajogo
\nare heroes and saviors who could not be disturbed by me as the
\ncoordinating minister," he added, referring respectively to
\nfounders of the Texmaco Group, Gadjah Tunggal Group and Barito
\nGroup.<\/p>\n
Kwik said that the bad conglomerates had launched a campaign
\nimplying that the economics ministers under his coordination had
\nfailed with their jobs and had been ineffective.<\/p>\n
"What they have been saying is all lies," he said, pointing
\nout the achievements during his 10 months in office.<\/p>\n
He said that the previous economics team had been successful
\nin reopening crucial ties with international lenders including
\nthe International Monetary Fund, the Consultative Group on
\nIndonesia and the Paris Club of creditor nations.<\/p>\n
He also said that macroeconomic indicators including gross
\ndomestic product, inflation and exports had been encouraging.<\/p>\n
He added that the crucial bank restructuring and
\nrecapitalization program had also been completed.<\/p>\n
"Since the economics ministers declined to cooperate with the
\nblack conglomerates, they launched a campaign saying that we have
\nnot been effective and lacked coordination," Kwik said.<\/p>\n
Kwik expects the newly appointed Coordinating Minister for
\nEconomic Affairs Rizal Ramli to be able to work effectively
\nbecause he seemed to have no "enemies" among the conglomerates.
\n(rei)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kwik-vows-to-continue-fight-against-black-conglomerates-1447893297",
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