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Analysis: The perils of businesses having a role in public policy funding
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Newly inaugurated President Prabowo Subianto (center) waves to his supporters as he heads to the State Palace after the inauguration ceremony at the Senayan legislative complex in Jakarta on Oct. 20, 2024. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
W
ith the financial constraints facing President Prabowo Subianto in running the country and his bid to fulfill his campaign promises, the government has welcomed initiatives intended to ease its burden. Nevertheless, the helping hand may cost the government in the future as there is no such thing as a free lunch or good Samaritans, especially in politics.
One such initiative came from Public Housing and Settlements Minister Maruarar “Ara’’ Sirait, who announced recently a free housing project in Tangerang, Banten for low-income people using his private assets
Ara, through his property company of PT Bumi Samboro Sukses, has directly donated some part of the land prepared for the project while other aspects of the project, such as the physical development, will be conducted by a group of private companies, namely Barito Group, PT Adaro Energy Indonesia, Sinarmas Group and Agung Sedayu Group, all are heavyweight business players in the country.
Ara admitted that he personally approached those conglomerates to contribute to the development of the housing project as his attempt to fulfill Prabowo’s promise of 3 million houses annually for underprivileged people. The country in fact needs to build 10.7 million decent housing units for low-income families.
Ara called for further collaboration with the private sector to build more housing and other projects for the country’s benefit.
Private entities have also been invited by the government to participate in the free nutritious meal program, one of Prabowo’s signature programs. Head of the National Nutrition Agency Dadan Hindayana has called on the private sector to contribute to the program.
Dadan stated that the involvement of private actors in the program was among the alternative schemes stipulated in the presidential regulation on the program. He said corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding by private actors should contribute to the program designed to benefit 83 million people.
