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Prabowo's camp seeks to amend 'liberal' laws
The Red-and-White Coalition of the defeated presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, is planning to cap foreign investment in the countryâs banking, mining and telecommunication sectors through amendments of several laws that they deem âliberalâ
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T
he Red-and-White Coalition of the defeated presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, is planning to cap foreign investment in the country's banking, mining and telecommunication sectors through amendments of several laws that they deem 'liberal'.
'In coordination with the government, the Red-and-White Coalition plans to amend numerous laws that are too liberal or leaning toward foreign [interests],' coalition spokesperson and Golkar Party lawmaker, Tantowi Yahya, said on Friday.
The plan was first proposed by Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie, who called for the need to review 122 existing laws he said contradicted 'the spirit of democracy in the country's Pancasila ideology.'
Aburizal, whose Bakrie Group has portfolios in the mining and telecommunication sectors, said that the 2009 Mineral and Coal Mining Law, the 1999 Telecommunication Law and the 1998 Banking Law would be among the first laws to be amended.
Golkar lawmaker Misbakhun confirmed that the amendment plan had received support from all political parties under the coalition, which controls 292 of the total 560 seats in the newly inaugurated House of Representatives.
'We have conducted serious discussions on this issue. We believe that the incoming administration of president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo will support our plan, considering that during his campaign, Jokowi repeatedly expressed his vision about reforming the banking and mining sectors,' he said in a telephone interview.
Misbakhun, who is aiming to serve in the House's Commission XI overseeing finance, banking and national development planning, said he would work to revive discussions on the draft of a banking bill that was ditched by the previous House.
Under the bill, the House sought to limit foreign ownership of a bank to a maximum of 40 percent, jeopardizing existing foreign shares for some Indonesian lenders.
- Coalition deems 122 laws too liberal and protective of foreign interests
- Plan first outlined by Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie
- With the coalition controlling the House, the plan could materialize
'I believe that 40 percent of foreign ownership is an ideal standard. However, we need to improve the draft to shut all the loopholes that allow foreign companies to retain ownership, such as by shifting its shares to its affiliated company in the country,' said Misbakhun.
The limitation on foreign ownership could also be applied to telecommunication companies through the amendment of the 1999 Telecommunication Law.
Golkar Party politicians have consistently advocated the takeover of telecommunication firms Telkomsel and Indosat, arguing that telecommunications is a strategic sector that should be controlled by the government.
The ownership of Telkomsel is 65 percent controlled by state-owned telecommunications firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) and 35 percent controlled by Singtel Mobile, a subsidiary of Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.
Meanwhile, 65 percent of Indosat's shares are owned by Qatar-based Ooredoo, 14.29 percent by the Indonesian government and the remaining 20.71 percent by the public.
The voting mechanism in choosing leaders of the House's 11 commissions and other House bodies could give ample opportunity for Prabowo's coalition to dominate the commissions and eventually realize its goal of amending the so-called 'liberal' laws.
A circulating document shows that the coalition has offered three commission chairmanships to the Golkar Party and two chairmanships each to Prabowo's Gerindra Party, the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN).
