The people's corporations

The people's corporations

The government will shortly establish a special agency to oversee all the BUMN state-owned corporations. With many interest groups vying to gain control over those corporations, the new agency will have an important function to improve control and efficiency in those corporations, which up to now have practically served as cash cows to certain interest groups.

It is ironic that the BUMN corporations, which are the core businesses of our economy, have been turned into milch cows by certain parties. As a consequence, competition for top management positions has become unhealthy. The position of president director, for example, is no longer awarded based on professional qualifications, but rather on political lobbying skills.

We should never forget that those BUMNs are not the private properties of the President or of Cabinet ministers. They belong to the Indonesian people, who have a right to expect certain returns from those businesses in the form of improved welfare standards.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta