SOE minister spells out steps to ‘reduce intervention’

In his first day as state-owned enterprises (SOE) minister, Dahlan Iskan, the running-shoe-wearing former president director of state electricity firm PT PLN, announced efforts to change state firms’ images as state and political cash cows.

Media mogul Dahlan, who drove himself in a black Mercedes-Benz to a handover ceremony at the ministry on Wednesday, said he would give “more authority to state firms and there would be less ministry intervention”, expecting greater corporate action to optimize performance and create multiplier effects in the economy amid a global crisis.

“In the next three months, the traffic of letters must be reduced by 50 percent, the number of reports that the ministry asks state firms for must also be reduced by 50 percent and meetings must be reduced by 50 percent,” he said in his speech, to which over a hundred state firm directors and ministry officials excitedly applauded.

“If the ministry reduces its intervention, how will directors bow down to external intervention?” Dahlan, 60, who is also a Chinese history enthusiast, told reporters after the ceremony.

There are currently 141 SOEs in Indonesia, many of which have yet to be profitable, while the remaining — primarily the listed ones, including those in banking, telecommunications and mining — are growing rapidly.

But testimony from former officials indicated that some of the firms’ projects and profits were being used to feed political parties and figures.

“Political intervention really is the major issue with state-owned enterprises. That needs to be addressed,” said former SOE minister Sofyan Djalil, who served for two years during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s first term. PLN finance director Setyo Dewo Anggoro said Dahlan was the right man for such a task.

“I have faith in him because in two years at PLN, I have seen how his eagerness helps him realize his goals. He works even harder than the young ones; it’s true.

“There is indeed intervention, but [Dahlan] will try to manage it as much as possible,” he told The Jakarta Post after congratulating Dahlan on his new post, which the new minister unwillingly accepted.

Dahlan, who started his career as a reporter in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, in 1975 and climbed to be the owner of one of the nation’s biggest news networks, Jawa Pos, said he “had optimized efforts to reject this post” by trying to extend his business visit to Europe to Oct. 21.

“My initial goal was to quit PLN by the end of 2012 to be a ‘free man’. The biggest happiness is to be a free man, have a wife, children, grandchildren and money,” he said, adding that even his wife was willing to hand over her automatic chairmanship of the SOE Official’s Wives Union.

Dahlan’s predecessor, Mustafa Abubakar, who was replaced due to a heart ailment for which he was treated for over a month in Jakarta and then Singapore, had high hopes for Dahlan.

“With such huge success at PLN, guidance for our state firms will be better. I am hoping that his creativity and courage will help him break through.” Bankers at state-run lenders Bank Mandiri, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) and Bank Tabungan Negara (BTN) expected the new minister to be more cooperative in reducing the amount of profits they store for the state budget.

“[Dahlan] knows better. He was a businessman. He will understand that businesses will create more multiplier effects in the economy if the dividends are low, as profits are used more to develop and grow business,” BRI president director Sofyan Basir said.