Minister warns against privatization delay
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi warned on Wednesday that the country could not afford the luxury of delaying the privatization program as it was competing with time to meet a difficult target.
But he said that his office was willing to meet with the House of Representatives (DPR) to discuss the privatization program amid mounting calls from legislators for a delay.
"About the delay, of course it can be discussed again with the DPR," he was quoted by Antara as saying, following a meeting between senior economic ministers and Vice President Hamzah Haz.
Laksamana said that, to achieve the 2002 privatization target, the government should work hard and have the courage to take breakthrough measures.
He added that market momentum was crucial to ensure a successful sale of state assets.
The government plans to raise around Rp 6.5 trillion (about US$650 million) in privatization proceeds this year in a bid to help plug the 2002 state budget deficit. The House has actually approved this target.
The privatization program is also one of the country's key economic reform programs essential to help revive the confidence of investors and donors in the ailing economy.
Laksamana's office is shortly expected to issue a list of the state-owned enterprises that are to be privatized this year.
Last year, the government only raised around Rp 3.5 trillion in privatization proceeds, much lower than the Rp 6.5 trillion target, due to massive protests from various quarters.
And now, opposition to the government privatization program intensifies again.
Some legislators want the government to delay the privatization program until a law governing the program has been passed by the House to help ensure maximum benefit to the state and avoid corruption in the process.
The government has proposed a draft of the law to the House but the latter had yet to debate it.
There have been suggestions that the past sales of state assets have not been conducted properly causing the country to be unable to gain optimum proceeds.
Elsewhere, a group of employees of state-owned cement maker PT Semen Gresik held a rally at Laksamana's office on Wednesday to pressure the government to drop plans to sell a 51 percent stake in the company to the Mexican cement giant Cemex SA de CV.
The protesters argue that if the government proceeds with the privatization program, it would no longer have control over the supply of domestic cement, raising concerns of a possible sharp hike in cement prices.
Earlier on Tuesday, thousands of employees held a strike for similar reasons. The strike caused publicly listed Semen Gresik to suffer some Rp 1.8 billion in losses.
The employees plan to strike again if the government does not drop the planned sale.
The Semen Gresik sale plan was supposed to be completed late last year, but opposition from various quarters forced the government to delay. The government now expects to be able to complete the divestment program in March this year.