Shareholders' meetings

In the present atmosphere of reform, Indonesia's mass media have been carrying advertisements about schedules of shareholders' general meetings. It may not be far wrong to assume that these advertisements are placed by companies belonging to family members of former president Soeharto and also to business tycoons allegedly enjoying facilities extended by officials in the old regime.

Why have these companies decided to hold these meetings so suddenly? It must be linked to a stronger demand that the assets of the family members of former president Soeharto and also those of certain government officials and business tycoons be returned to the state because it must be assumed that they all have acquired these assets through corruption, collusion and nepotism.

Will these meetings be held to transfer or sell the companies to other parties or to remove traces of the original ownership to certain other people? It must also be assumed that the old owners will have fresh money which may be transferred abroad or to unknown third parties. In this way they can sell these assets quickly, just like what has happened to the assets of BHS Bank.

The government, therefore, must always be alert as otherwise it will be taken caught off-guard. Thank God the Attorney General's Office will probe the assets of these people.

So, supervision and monitoring must continue to be undertaken. All assets assumed to have been acquired through corruption, collusion and nepotism must be returned to the state and must not be allowed to disappear into thin air.

Eddy Tansil is a case in point. Through practices of collusion, corruption and nepotism, he has got away with Rp 1.3 trillion. He is still at large although it is said that we have a specially trained unit to deal with problems like this.

GUS-TYANA

Cikampek, West Java