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)