Commissioners' performance

The last couple of months have seen at least three new president commissioners of state-owned companies appointed following the replacement of their new respective board of directors.

One was Martiono Hadianto, president commissioner of state oil company PT Pertamina, who was elected in February. The other two were Edwin Gerungan of Bank Mandiri and Rudjito of BRI on May 16 and May 17 respectively.

Both the people and the government's expectation as regards their appointment as president commissioners, together with the commissioners who help them, is that the companies they oversee will grow healthily and profitably. In fact, most state-owned companies have for decades experienced the opposite and suffered losses. To mention just a few, state-owned railway and electricity companies, Garuda and Merpati flight carriers, and state-run Jakarta bus firm PPD.

At the very least, president commissioners and commissioners are partly responsible for the healthy and profitable growth of companies they oversee. Their salaries are half the amount of their president directors'. So do commissioners receive half the amount of directors' salaries. As such, all president commissioners as well as their commissioners should also be held responsible when their companies grapple with problems, as it shows that their oversight function did not work.

The present Bank Mandiri case in which its president director and his two directors have been named suspects and detained, could be an example. The smiling picture of the former president commissioner of the bank, Binhadi, and the fatigued face of the then president director ECW Neloe during a farewell press conference following the general shareholders meeting on May 16 (The Jakarta Post, May 17) shows contrasting views.

On one hand, the former president director looked battered by his huge problems, while on the other hand, the former president commissioner looked as if he had nothing to lose.

Even though the latter received only half the salary of the former, all the problems that had become hot news should have been the problems of all board commissioners and directors depending on their respective roles.

In order to improve t boards of commissioners' performance, the state-owned-enterprises ministry should increase its oversight function despite the existence of each company's internal supervisory system. In this way, a company's healthy and profitable growth would be ensured, and law enforcement agencies could not touch them.

M. RUSDI, Jakarta