Kwik vows to speak out against bad conglomerates

Kwik vows to speak out against bad conglomerates

JAKARTA (JP): Former economic minister Kwik Kian Gie promised
on Wednesday to continue speaking out against "bad conglomerates"
in his new position as a member of the House of Representatives.

Kwik, who resigned from the Cabinet last month just before it
was reshuffled by President Abdurrahman Wahid, however, doubted
his crusade would be anymore effective from outside the Cabinet
than it was from inside, citing a lack of all-round political
support.

"It won't be any more effective. But I will continue to speak
out nevertheless," Kwik told The Jakarta Post.

"The situation is so hopeless," he lamented, saying that the
Attorney General's Office and the police lacked the political
will as well as the competency to go after the conglomerates,
whom he accused of robbing trillions of rupiahs of public money
through "financial engineering".

Kwik refrained on Wednesday from calling the business empires
"black" conglomerates as he has done in the past, recognizing
criticism that the term was a racist one.

Kwik, who represents the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) at the House of Representatives,
believes that there has been a strong and consistent campaign
against him since the day he was appointed to the Cabinet in
October.

The campaign was organized by conglomerates, he said, and
mostly took the form of character assassination and direct
lobbying of the President. It continued with intensity till the
day he resigned from the Cabinet in August, he said.

The campaign against him ranged from discrediting his
educational background and the country's economic record during
his tenure as the government's chief economist, to criticism of
the alleged lack of coordination and unity in his economic team
and his past limited associations with businesses, he said.

These allegations were baseless but were used as a means to
oust him from the Cabinet, he said, stressing that Indonesia's
economy made remarkable progress during the 10 months he was in
the government.

Admitting that his campaign against "bad conglomerates" would
not likely lead to any court convictions, Kwik said he would
speak out in the House.

"It's better than keeping quiet. It will at least serve as a
reminder to the public of the problem, and hopefully discourage
others from committing the same sin," he said.

Kwik upset big conglomerates in the last weeks before his
resignation by calling for a complete review of the master of
settlement and sales agreements signed by five conglomerates.

The agreements essentially stated that conglomerates agreed to
give up control of their business assets equal to the amount of
their debts.

Kwik said their assets later turned out to be way overvalued
to the tune of Rp 80 trillion ($9.6 billion), which will be
burdened to the government and therefore taxpayers.

Losses to the government from the unpaid debts of all the
conglomerates could potentially reach Rp 250 trillion, he said.

Kwik took some comfort in the knowledge that the House last
month agreed to his proposal to review the agreements.

"The matter is now in the hands of the House," he said.

He may well lead the campaign in the House now that he has
been assigned by his party to serve in commission IX, which deals
with finance and development matters.

The Dutch-trained economist also promised to resume writing
newspapers columns, something he regularly did before he became a
minister in October. His weekly articles, which appeared in
Kompas and The Jakarta Post, were very popular because of their
sharp criticism and analyses of the country's economic situation.

He said his nine-month stint in the Cabinet had been a real
eye-opener because although he already knew the economic problems
facing Indonesia -- including corruption and unpaid corporate and
banking debts -- he did not know their real extent until he had
direct access to the statistics.

"The reality was shocking," he said. "I learned a lot."

His tenure in the Cabinet looks set to serve him well in his
new role in the House, which he said he intends to use critically
in dealing with the government. "I know the (economic) figures
off the top of my head. Perhaps it's an unfair advantage," he
said. (emb)