Pertamina needs thorough cleanup

Pertamina needs thorough cleanup

The management of Pertamina is figuratively sitting on burning embers. Practically all of the public's attention is focused on the state oil company after it was discovered that it lost US$6.1 billion in just two years (1996 to 1998) through corruption.

What is happening at Pertamina? How could $6.1 billion be lost in a mere two years? What should we do about this state company whose authority to manage Indonesia's mining assets and energy resources is practically without limit?

It would seem the only effective way to mend Pertamina is to change its status as a state company into that of a regular business, devoid of any of the special rights that make it function like an extended arm of the bureaucracy. That would make the company easier to control.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta