Balai Pustaka ridden with Rp 6b in debts

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned Balai Pustaka, the nation's leading publishing house in the 1950s and 1960s, is now Rp 6 billion ($2.75 million) in debt with millions of unsold books.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro yesterday confirmed that the 77-year old publishing agency has been in deep financial trouble for some time and badly needs restructuring.

"The debts are a result of the company's inefficient management," Wardiman said, adding that the publisher's revenues were unable to cover its operational costs.

He was responding to a report in the Neraca daily newspaper which, quoting sources at the Supreme Audit Agency, made suggestions of huge leaks in Balai Pustaka's finances.

Balai Pustaka, the only state enterprise overseen by the ministry of education and culture, saw its hey day in the 1950s and 1960s. The onslaught of private publishing houses since the 1970s, however, have taken the edge off of its role, now down to largely providing school textbooks, with government protection.

Wardiman earlier this year revamped the management of Balai Pustaka to turn the money losing agency into a money spinner.

Balai Pustaka President Wahyudi Ruwiyanto recently said he was planning a major facelift to the company's management some time this year.

According to the ministry's inspector general Zaki Machmud as reported by Neraca, Balai Pustaka's debts included tax arrears and other obligations reaching a total of Rp 6 billion.

He said in fact the company did not lack assets because it owned almost a whole storage room full of unsold books, valued at billions of rupiah.

Zaki said there were no indications of corruption within the company and emphasized that management inefficiency was the main cause of the problem.

The company, he said, had been publishing books that were not popular with the public. It also lacked a sound distribution and marketing strategy, he added.

Wardiman pointed out that the only way to solve the company's problems was to increase its professionalism, but he refused to see privatization as a solution. "They only have to be as professional as private publishers," he said. (pwn)