The State-Owned Enterprises Ministry is
preparing a regulation aimed at stamping out nepotism in all state-owned
companies, in a bid to cut out corruption and mismanagement.
“Nepotism
is indeed a bad thing because it affects companies’ management. When people
with family ties work at the same company, they are likely to prioritize their
own personal interests above the firm’s interest,” said State-Owned Enterprises
Minister Dahlan Iskan after a closed-door meeting on Thursday.
Dahlan
said the regulation would likely be in the form of an instruction mandating all
state-owned companies impose anti-nepotism guidelines. He said such a
regulation would, for example, prohibit family members from working in the same
state-owned firm.
Dahlan
said the regulation would apply to all employees, regardless of whether they
were hired legitimately or due to nepotism.
“The
strict regulation is aimed to prevent all possibilities of dirty nepotism from
happening in state-owned enterprises,” Dahlan said.
He
added that he would meet next week with a number of state-owned firms that had
already imposed anti-nepotism measures to further discuss the regulation.
“We
will learn from them about how they implement the measures, what the obstacles
and the benefits are,” he said.
Contacted
separately, state-owned cement maker PT Semen Indonesia corporate secretary
Agung Wiharto said his firm would fully support the ministry’s plan as it was
part of good corporate governance values.
“We are
pretty aware of the issue of nepotism, and we already imposed a similar measure
as what the ministry is planning in 2010,” he said.
Agung
also said before his company started cracking down on nepotism, he saw a number
of cases where children of directors at his firm easily climbed the ladder — and
not because of their achievements.
He said
that since 2010, Semen Indonesia has prohibited married couples and relatives
from working at the firm.
Meanwhile,
state-owned construction firm PT Wijaya Karya (WIKA) spokesman Natal Agrawan
declined to comment before he knew the specifics.
“We
will see details of the regulation first, once it has been released,” he said.
Indonesia
Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Ade Irawan said he approved the ministry’s
plan, but was pessimistic that the measure would be the best solution to fight
nepotism within state-owned enterprises.
“The
spirit of the regulation is good, but it could be perceived as violating human
rights because for some people, it will prevent them from having a career in
state-owned firms. I think the most important thing to do is to have an open
and quality recruitment process,” he said.
Ade
also said that instead of limiting people’s career options, state-owned
enterprises could guarantee competence through a strict recruitment process
carried out by independent institutions.
“The
firms can also manage their staff members’ work placement to avoid nepotism.
For example, when a staff member’s father is a financial director, his son
[...] should be placed in another division,” he said.
Ade
went on to say that it was common knowledge nepotism still occurred in some
state-owned enterprises. Nepotism was very rampant during the era of former
president Soeharto.
For
example, in 1998, Soeharto appointed his daughter Siti Hardijanti “Tutut”
Rukmana the social affairs minister.
Khoirul
Amin
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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