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Pertamina CEO: SOEs Minister Erick is always hands-on
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(Courtesy of Pertamina)
P
T Pertamina president director and chief executive officer Nicke Widyawati said that the leadership style of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir was focused on targets and spurring SOEs, including Pertamina, to work harder. Erick, Nicke continued, was always alert to reports and issues related to SOEs.
"Whenever I contact Erick, he is always hands-on," Nicke said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Indonesia Brand Forum (IBF) founding director Yuswohady said Nicke’s statement, as well as the statements of several Indonesian SOE CEOs, was an excerpt from the book Elephant Learns Flamenco: BUMN Menuju Indonesia Emas 2045 by IBF and PT Balai Pustaka, which will be launched at the 2024 IBF event in Jakarta on July 31, 2024.
Yuswohady said the book maps the journey and strategies of SOEs in realizing the Golden Indonesia 2045 vision, as well as Erick Thohir's leadership style and the existence of AKHLAK (trustworthy, competent, harmonious, loyal, adaptive, collaborative) as Indonesian SOEs’ core values. Yuswohady believes that a successful transformation, such as Indonesian SOEs’ transformation over the past five years, is greatly influenced by the leadership style of its leader.
“The research approach that I took to understand [Minister Erick’s] leadership style was a bit unusual. I did not obtain information directly from Erick Thohir, but rather from the SOE president directors who interacted with and are affected by his leadership practices," Yuswohady explained.
Yuswohadi said that Erick was the main figure behind Indonesian SOEs’ success in the past five years. He added that Erick was able to maintain Indonesian SOEs’ positive performance trend to contribute to the country through taxes, non-tax revenue and dividends.
Yuswohady highlighted how Erick’s leadership style had made Indonesian SOEs able to compete on the global stage. He said the SOEs’ current total combined assets of nearly Rp 8.98 quadrillion (US$549.7 billion) and revenue of about Rp 2.29 quadrillion are recorded as being much larger than the Singaporean superholding SOE Temasek.
Yuswohady said Erick was able to encourage Indonesian SOEs to become more professional and competitive like large global SOEs such as Temasek and Saudi Arabia's Aramco. As Aramco began to diversify its business, Erick also tidied up the business model of the country’s SOEs to be more adaptive.
"The [effect of the] private corporation-esque SOE model has begun to be evident, especially the efficiency process and business focus of [state-owned] holding companies BSI, Pelindo, PTPN and Ultramikro. Previously, [SOEs’] assets had been small and separate, so of course they found it difficult to compete," Yuswohady continued.
In addition to focusing on their respective core businesses, Yuswohady also assessed that the implementation of digitalization has accelerated the pace of SOE transformation. He hopes that SOEs’ good achievements could continue and even increase in the future.
"I hope the SOEs Ministry’s momentum will continue building because there is already a foundation. The continuity of the SOEs Ministry is very important so its progress is not reversed next year," Yuswohady said.
