Jakarta – The House of Representatives (DPR) will continue with its plan to question President Megawati Soekarnoputri about the controversial divestment of publicly listed telecommunication company PT Indosat, a spokesman said.
In the House's view, the government violated the state's Constitution, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) resolutions X/2001 and VI/2002 and Law Number 25/2000 in divesting Indosat, Ambia Bustam of the Reform faction told reporters over the weekend.
At least five requirements should have been fulfilled by the government in privatizing the state enterprises, he said. Among the requirements were the House's approval, systematic socialization, comprehensive action plans, selective privatization, Ambia said.
Privatization of any state enterprise which dominates the lives and interests of people at large or those exploring the state's natural resources was prohibited, he said. "Therefore, in general, [the state minister for state enterprises] Laksamana Sukardi committed some violations," he said.
In the case of Indosat's divestment, he said, there was not enough socialization, no consultation with the House and no action plans. The privatization of state companies should ideally be done only after the law on state enterprises and the law on privatization had been enacted, he added.
In the meantime, Laksamana on Friday officially reported MPR Chairman Amien Rais to the Jakarta police for defamation. The report referred to Amien's statement on page 77 of Forum Keadilan magazine's December 1, 2002 issue.
The magazine quoted Amien as saying that there was a "very dangerous" minister in the "Mutual Cooperation" cabinet without mentioning the minister's name. The two figures' conflict broke out following the controversial divestment.
Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) Pte was claimed to be the winning bidder of a tender for the divestment of 434,000 government shares of Series b in Indosat. The government shares make up 41.94 per cent of the company's paid-up capital.
Indosat workers claim, by selling the telecommunication operator to Singapore, Laksamana was compromising the country's national security. Over the past few days, the workers have been staging peaceful demonstrations, demanding the cancellation of the divestment. On Friday, they launched a nationwide strike.