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