In a statement issued on Monday, PT Pos Indonesia brushed aside reports on news outlets and social media that the company had to borrow money from banks to pay its employees because of the firm’s financial woes.

“The news is not right and far from fact,” said PT Pos Indonesia president director Gilarsi Wahyu Setijono when contacted by The Jakarta Post on Monday for a clarification.

PT Pos Indonesia corporate secretary Benny Otoyo in a statement also clarified misleading information about the company's financial condition.

As a company that offers various services, like as a courier, in logistics and government and facilitating remittances and bill payments, Benny said PT Pos Indonesia is just like any other company that needs working capital to cover its expenses. To get the working capital, it is normal for a company to get loans from banks, he said.

“Are there any companies that do not need working capital? The answer is 'No'. We also need working capital to fund operational costs, bills and other [expenditures] and working capital is borrowed from the bank. Paying employee salaries is part of the operational cost, but it does not mean we borrow money for paying salaries,” said Benny.

The company also expressed its objection to an assumption aired on social media that PT Pos Indonesia is heading toward bankruptcy. To prove it, Benny mentioned a number of supporting facts that show the company’s finances are not in critical condition.

They include the ability of PT Pos Indonesia to gradually raise the salaries of its employees, the company assets that are still fully controlled by PT Pos Indonesia, the company’s ability to pay for health insurance for employees and pay into pension funds without any delay, among others.

The concern over the future of PT Pos Indonesia emerged after a House of Representatives Commission VI member, Rieke Diah Pitaloka, said during a hearing last Thursday that PT Pos Indonesia was in a financial crisis.

As the oldest postal and courier company in Indonesia, PT Pos Indonesia is indeed facing fierce competition amidst the growing number of other logistics and courier companies in the country. In doing its businesses, the company has to keep up with other competitors such as JNE, Tiki, SiCepat and J&T Express.

Benny of PT Pos Indonesia admits the company is struggling through digital disruption. However, he said that the situation should not be seen as an unusual event as all companies in the world are also facing the same challenges.

To face the ongoing disruption, PT Pos Indonesia is transforming all aspects in its business, from human resources to strengthening subsidiaries and developing new products, Benny said.

Marketing expert Hermawan Kartajaya said in facing business disruption in the digital era, the long-established companies that are also state-owned enterprises such as PT Pos Indonesia usually take a longer time to adjust because of their old company culture.

Hermawan said transformation is not only about having offline and online platforms. A company should also combine other "paradoxes", namely integrating professionalism and entrepreneurship, productivity and creativity, caution and innovation.

“Logistics is a business that is growing rapidly. PT Pos Indonesia should have not lose to that because as a logistics company they have a strength and an asset that the other logistics companies do not have, the physical office,” said Hermawan.

“There is no logistics company in Indonesia that has the number of offices that PT Pos has. So, all they should do is just transform, including transforming their culture," he said.

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