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Erick Thohir reports threats following Jiwasraya, Asabri fiascos
“Threats are becoming my daily consumption, especially after the Jiwasraya and Asabri case unfolded,” State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir said.
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State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir (front, left), accompanied by Deputy Minister Kartika “Tiko” Wirjoatmodjo (center) and ministry spokesman Arya Sinulingga, attends a meeting with lawmakers at the House of Representatives in Jakarta. (Antara/Galih Pradipta)
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tate-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Minister Erick Thohir said he has received several threats since becoming a minister, particularly after taking stern actions over alleged corruption cases that involved two state-owned insurers, Asuransi Jiwasraya and Asuransi Angkatan Bersenjata Republik Indonesia (Asabri).
“Threats are becoming my daily consumption, especially after the Jiwasraya and Asabri case unfolded,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Friday without giving more details on the matter.
Despite the threats, Erick pledged to keep doing his job properly and give the best he could to improve the SOE performance by implementing good corporate governance (GCG) principles.
“I will do this job lillahi ta’ala [for almighty God] and will continue to give the best I can for this job,” he said.
Both Jiwasraya and Asabri have been implicated in financial fiascos after losing trillions of rupiah through investment mismanagement. The mismanagement even led to Jiwasraya's failure to pay out policies that had matured in December last year totaling more than Rp 12 trillion (US$878.7 million).
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) launched a corruption investigation and on Tuesday arrested five people, including the insurer’s former president director and two businessmen, for their suspected roles in alleged corruption at the insurer.
Meanwhile, Asabri suffered a loss of about Rp 10 trillion from plunging stock investments, sparking a similar corruption allegation. The social insurer for the National Police, the Indonesian Military and employees of the Defense Ministry, however, claimed the situation was only temporary and would not affect its ability to pay out on customer claims.
In an abrupt change, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD, who was the one who first announced the company's losses, said on Thursday that the commotion over Asabri should stop as the legal process was currently ongoing, kompas.com reported.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, on a separate occasion on Friday, called on the public to give the SOEs Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Financial Services Authority (OJK) a chance to resolve Jiwasraya’s case.
“[Jiwasraya] has been ailing for so long, so the resolution will not be instantaneous,” he said at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.
The SOEs Ministry is also devising plans to save the ailing Jiwasraya that include the establishment of an insurance holding company that would provide a cash flow of Rp 1 trillion to Rp 2 trillion.
