Sofyan heads business council

JAKARTA (JP) President Abdurrahman Wahid defied the critics and named ethnic Chinese businessman Sofyan Wanandi to head the newly formed National Business Development Council.

Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, inaugurated the 18- member council on Saturday in a ceremony at the State Palace attended by senior economic ministers and military top brass.

"The main purpose of this council is to give advice on how businesses can benefit from the policies devised by the government with the advice of the National Economic Council," Gus Dur said.

Earlier, Gus Dur inaugurated the National Economic Council, consisting of senior economists, to advise him on macroeconomic policy.

Both councils report directly to the President.

Critics have accused Gus Dur of forming to many new institutions, while at the same time failing to empower his Cabinet. They warned the councils would be more influential than the Cabinet in drafting policy.

Gus Dur, as he often does, ignored the critics and followed his own path. "I'm consistent in forming this new council, consisting of all of you," he said, adding that the aim of the council was to help bring about an economic revival.

The business development council will advise the President on how to revive business activity in the country and create new jobs for the legions of unemployed.

Sofyan Wanandi of the Gemala Group will be assisted in leading the council by two indigenous businessmen who will serve as his deputies. They are Arifin Panigoro of the Medco Group and Aburizal Bakrie of the Bakrie Group, who is also the chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The council has 18 members, including Wiwoho Basuki of the Tri Patra Group; John A. Prasetio of the Prasetio Utomo/Arthur Andersen; Agus Projosasmito from Danareksa; Sunyoto Tanudjaja of the Great River; Prijadi Prapto Suhardjo from Bank Rakyat Indonesia; Oesman Soedargo of the Prasidha Group; Fachtur Rachman of Bangun Cipta Sarana; Shanti Poesposoetjipto of the Soedarpo Group; Hariadi Sukamdani of the Sahid Group; Alim Markus from Maspion; and Anton Supit from the Association of Footwear Producers.

Sofyan said the council's short-term objective would be to help create at least one million new jobs in the first year of Gus Dur's administration.

To achieve that, the council will advise the President to instruct the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency to allow the former owners and management of the companies under its control to begin running their businesses again, he said.

When those companies are running again, Sofyan said, they will be able to employ at least 500,000 people.

"It doesn't matter if the government owns all those companies," Sofyan said. "What's more important is that we need to utilize those national assets. We should not let those assets stay idle and become heaps of scrap iron."

In addition, Sofyan said the council would suggest that the President appeal to hundreds of thousands of small and medium- size enterprises to recruit two or three new employees each.

He believes small and medium-size firms could employ about 500,000 additional people.

"We, of course, ask Gus Dur to please maintain political stability. That's the main task of the government. We will work hard in the real sector to rebuild our shattered economy."

Aburizal warned that small and medium-size enterprises needed the help of local banks, most of which are now under the government's control, to restructure their debts in order to be able to operate normally and employ additional people.

Banks under the government's control are responsible for restructuring companies' debts which amount to less than Rp 5 billion. Companies with bad debts of over Rp 5 billion have been transferred to IBRA.

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony on Saturday, Sofyan warned the government not to let foreigners control Indonesia's economy by controlling state-owned utilities, including water, communications and electricity companies.

"I don't really agree with the policy of selling the government's majority stakes in state companies to foreign investors," he said. "We must always be in control of important national assets."

He said the government should not rush to sell basic utilities. He suggested the government empower local enterprises so they could contribute more taxes to the government, rather than holding a fire sale of national assets.

Sofyan said the council would help the government attract foreign investors to sectors other than utilities, such as automotive and manufacturing. (rid)