Prabowo's SOE amnesty idea aims to push governance reform: Minister
The spirit is about reforming SOEs. It has not reached the issue of amnesty,Jakarta (ANTARA) - Minister of State Secretary, Prasetyo Hadi said on Saturday that President Prabowo Subianto’s remarks about possible amnesty for executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were aimed at encouraging efforts to improve governance at state-owned companies.
Hadi was responding to questions about Prabowo’s speech on Friday, in which the president raised the possibility of establishing an ad hoc court and granting amnesty to SOE executives over problems dating back as far as 30 years.
“What he conveyed yesterday was an expression of our determination to have an unlimited commitment to improving our SOEs,” he said at the Presidential Palace Complex in Jakarta.
Hadi said the government’s focus was on identifying and correcting past corporate practices that were deemed improper. However, the government has not yet discussed granting amnesty to SOE executives.
“If the question is whether this will go as far as amnesty, the answer is no, not yet. It would be too early to say that we have reached the stage of discussing an amnesty process,” he said.
Hadi was referring to President Prabowo Subianto’s speech at the Annual Session of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the Joint Session of the House of Representatives (DPR) and Regional Representatives Council (DPD) at the Parliament Complex in Jakarta on Friday.
In the speech, Prabowo highlighted that Indonesia once had around 1,074 SOEs before the number was reduced through consolidation and restructuring. He said the large number pointed to governance problems at some state-owned companies.
Prabowo also criticised SOE executives who, he said, managed companies without sufficient responsibility to the state. Some companies had reported profits in their financial statements that were later found to have been manipulated, he said.
Hadi said reforms were already producing results, citing the reduction in the number of SOEs and improvements in management.
“Now that they are all under the management of Danantara, we are recording quite impressive profits, almost 300 percent to 400 percent,” he said, referring to Indonesia’s state asset management agency.
“The spirit is about reforming SOEs. It has not reached the issue of amnesty,” he added.
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Translator: Prisca Triferna, Kuntum Khaira