Balai Pustaka ridden with Rp 6b in debts
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)