Ezra Sihite – Former State Enterprises Ministry secretary Said Didu has backed up claims made by current minister Dahlan Iskan that lawmakers have engaged in extortion.
But Didu said that the lawmakers were not the biggest source of misappropriated funds from state-owned enterprises – instead, people close to the government were.
Dahlan said in a text message to Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam that House of Representatives members were trying to extort kickbacks from SOEs ahead of the finalization of the national budget.
Didu confirmed that 10 groups tried to extort SOEs during his time as the ministry's secretary. The groups comprised of government officials, and the inner circles of ministers, political parties, politicians, lawmakers, people from the media, law enforcement officials, NGOs, regional governments and foreign entities.
"The most persistent ones were within the inner circles of the rulers," he said. "The inner circles of the rulers were not necessary politicians but they could be wives or other relatives of government officials.
"The approach used by politicians and those within the inner circles of government officials included the placing of their people as SOE directors. That's because every rupiah spent on SOEs must go through the president directors and finance directors."
Meanwhile, foreign parties intervened through lobbies by getting SOEs to intentionally lose in tender bids. "Foreign parties lobbied SOEs to get our mining companies to lose [in tenders] and prevent Pertamina from getting oil fields," he explained.
He added that intervention and extortion by lawmakers could most easily be done through the procurement of goods and services, subsidies and initial public offerings of SOE shares. The money disbursed through those means can go undetected or unrecorded.
Didu praised Dahlan's decision to reveal the practice but added that he should not only identify extorting lawmakers. Didu said that of 141 SOEs, only about 20 are targets of extortion.
He said he was confident that extortion could be eradicated if the government replaced the directors of the targeted SOEs with people who objected to the practice. "Find president directors and finance directors who can push back when they are extorted," Didu said.
Abdul Latif Algaff, chairman of the SOE Workers Federation, said that extortion by lawmakers is genuine and that all SOE employees knew about it, though many lacked concrete evidence. "We are SOE employees and the extortion at SOEs is real and is committed through different means," Abdul said.
He added that lawmakers often grill SOE directors at parliament hearings but in the end ask for money. "The lawmakers criticized them so much but it turned out they had certain intentions and wanted to make some sort of deal," Abdul said.
He added that sometimes the idea to give the money came from SOE directors. Abdul defended Dahlan, whom he said was only trying to protect SOEs from extortion.
Hendrawan Supraktino, a member of House Commission VI, which oversees SOE matters, described Dahlan's report as speculation that would garner a positive response by the media and the public.
Sebastian Salang, coordinator of the Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), said there was a larger problem related to the extortion committed by lawmakers.
"It's not that simple. It's not just about some coward SOE people or legislators with the nerves – there is a more complex problem than that," Sebastian said.
He added that the problem stemmed from the transactional political practices that are often used by politicians, and collusion by lawmakers who issue weak policies that leave SOEs at risk.
"If people had any influence, they would be tempted to do things, such as place their own men [in SOEs], and own shares," he said.
Sebastian said that the lack of evidence means the House Ethics Council, which is investigating Dahlan's allegation, will struggle to confirm the claim.
Formappi called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate the practice by tapping the lawmakers phones.
Early in his time as minister, Dahlan indicated plans to merge, privatize or shut down many SOEs, potentially cutting opportunities for graft.