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Mahfud pledges to fix troubled infrastructure SOEs
Vice presidential candidate Mahfud MD, also a senior minister, said the infrastructure achievements of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo had resulted in the collapse of state-owned companies in the sector.
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Vice presidential candidate Mahfud MD delivers a speech during a gathering of campaign team members for the Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud ticket in Jakarta on Dec. 30, 2023. (Antara/Asprilla Dwi Adha)
Vice presidential candidate Mahfud MD has vowed to reform state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in the infrastructure sector, which he deemed plagued with corruption and inefficiency under President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration.
"We will fix the problematic SOEs. Many cases of corruption hail from these SOEs,” Mahfud said in a campaign event on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara News.
“In Indonesia, the infrastructure sector has remarkably advanced in the two terms of Jokowi’s presidency. But do you know that the SOEs that have collapsed are all the ones that handle infrastructure?” he added.
The incumbent coordinating security affairs minister said the decline of these SOEs in the infrastructure sector was in urgent need of fixing.
"Where did the money for these huge infrastructure projects come from? How could [the SOEs] lose so much? This needs to be probed. There must be something wrong here," Mahfud said.
Anton Gunawan, an expert member of the Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud campaign team, said the candidate pair pledged to review the effectiveness of state capital injections (PMNs) to the SOEs.
Anton said the capital funding could still be given with some requirements: the PMN had to be given to SOEs that provided public services, conducted commercial activities and could operate without continuously receiving the PMN.
"If we look at financing [in the state budget], there are points where there is negative financing in the form of, quote-unquote, ‘investment’ of PMNs to SOEs. This is what has caused the increase in debt," Anton said on Thursday, as quoted by CNBC Indonesia.
Therefore, Anton said, because it also contributed to raising government debt, the Ganjar-Mahfud administration would review the effectiveness of PMN distribution if they won the 2024 presidential election.
