TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsStop the overreach
When state signals tilt toward influencing the outcome of a private merger, it raises red flags for investors and competitors alike.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The Gojek and Grab logos are seen on the helmets of an online motorcycle taxi driver and his passenger on Wednesday at Jl. Basuki Rachmat in Jakarta. (The Jakarta Post/Iqro Rinaldi)
I
n several recent instances, President Prabowo Subianto’s administration has shown a willingness to exert pressure on private-sector players, often under the banner of safeguarding public welfare.
Officials repeatedly emphasize that the state has a mandate to protect citizens’ interests, a justification they have invoked when cracking down on illegal mining operations, probing palm oil companies over alleged corruption in land clearing and even pushing low-coupon so-called patriot bonds to major corporations as a show of “national contribution”.
But this has raised a broader question within the business community: How far will the state’s influence reach?
That concern resurfaced this week after State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi confirmed that discussions were indeed underway for GoTo and Grab to join forces.
On paper, his comment sounded routine, the kind of disclosure that might otherwise be dismissed as harmless. But in the context of a government increasingly comfortable weighing in on corporate affairs, the statement took on a different meaning. Many interpreted it as a signal that the merger was all but assured, particularly with the involvement of state asset fund Danantara.
The market responded immediately. GoTo’s share price jumped 9.8 percent in the next trading day, suggesting investors saw the announcement less as neutral information and more as an implicit endorsement from the state.
In the world of private negotiations, such remarks can border on market interference, creating price movements even before a deal is finalized.
