State firms must be efficient: Mar'ie
State firms must be efficient: Mar'ie
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad yesterday
urged state-owned companies to make concerted efforts to promote
management, so they can stand at the forefront in efficient
operations among the country's businesses.
"State-owned companies should set examples (in efficiency) as
our society follows a paternalistic pattern and look up to their
leaders as role models," Mar'ie told journalists after presenting
dedication awards to 280 employees at the Ministry of Finance.
The minister noted that state firms should also improve their
performance so they will be more competitive. Then they will be
able to contribute more to the country, by paying more taxes and
dividends to the government.
He suggested all state companies, more than 180, follow the
success of the telecommunication company PT Indosat, the first
state-owned company to penetrate one of the world's most
prestigious stock markets, the New York Stock Exchange.
Mar'ie said efficiency at state firms could minimize leaking
and wasting of state funds, either in their collection of state
revenues or in spending.
"Resources of state incomes are relatively limited and they
are not easy to collect. There is no other way except to manage
state funds efficiently," said Mar'ie, who represents the state
as official shareholder.
He said financial institutions such as banks, insurance
companies, stock markets, pension funds and guarantee funds are
in vanguard positions for the efficiency drive as they are the
ones who mobilize funds from the public.
He asked all employees in his ministry and in state companies
to incorporate efficiency into their daily routines.
"Efficiency is not an alien thing, it should be our 'close
friend.' It would be much better if we could make it our culture
of works," Mar'ie said in his address before hundreds of
employees at his ministry.
Sharing the minister's argument, Rustam Effendi, president of
state-owned PT Danareksa, said all state companies should head
toward one direction -- efficiency.
"That's the trend. If state companies are still inefficient,
sooner or later, they will die out," Rustam told The Jakarta
Post.(rid)