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Govt, House to assess leadership candidates for wealth fund
The House Commission XI overseeing financial affairs will meet to discuss the candidates for the supervisory board.
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Rupiah and US dollar notes are arranged side by side in a bank. (Antara/Rosa Panggabean)
T
he government and the House of Representatives will begin to discuss next week the candidates to supervise and lead the country’s soon-to-be-launched sovereign wealth fund, which reportedly includes a relative of a high-ranking government official.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has submitted several undisclosed names to the House to fill the positions in the supervisory board, which will be led by the finance minister and whose members will include the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) minister and three professionals. The government has also narrowed down a list of candidates to become the fund’s chief.
Among the rumored names on the shortlist for the fund’s chief is 41-year-old Pandu Sjahrir, who is also the nephew of Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Kontan reported. Pandu is currently a director at publicly listed coal mining firm PT TBS Energi Utama, which is partially owned by Luhut, and president commissioner at Sea Group, the parent firm of marketplace Shopee.
The House Commission XI overseeing financial affairs will meet to discuss the candidates for the supervisory board on Monday, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Hendrawan Supratikno confirmed to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
The managerial positions to lead and supervise the fund will be a strategic pick to be made by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Analysts have raised concerns over the sovereign wealth fund, saying that governance and supervision were key to prevent the fund from becoming like Malaysia’s 1MDB fund, which suffered massive losses due to industrial-scale corruption.
Read also: Indonesia’s planned $5b sovereign wealth fund raises questions
The board of directors will include five professionals to oversee the fund’s operation, including to formulate the fund’s policy and work plan, among other things.
