QUESTIONS ABOUT TRANSPARENCY
Danantara is headed by Investment and Downstreaming Minister Rosan Roeslani, who was also the head of Prabowo’s presidential campaign team during last year’s election.
State-owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir, who also campaigned for Prabowo last year, is the chairman of the supervisory board of the fund.
Prior to Danantara’s official launch, some experts had raised concerns about issues of transparency as it was unclear how the new sovereign wealth fund would be audited.
Analysts told CNA that the country’s audit board (BPK) and financial and development supervisory agency (BPKP) could only audit Danantara with Parliament’s approval, which is dominated by Prabowo’s coalition – the Advance Indonesia Coalition.
This came after Parliament amended a law regarding state-owned enterprises on Feb 4.
“Previously, the BPK could audit financial reports of the state-owned enterprises through various methods, but now it can only be audited through examinations with a specific purpose to detect whether or not there is state loss,” said Yassar Aulia, a researcher with non-governmental organisation Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).
“Audits are also reportedly only possible with the approval or request of Parliament.”
However, Rosan dismissed such concerns.
At a press conference on Monday after Danantara’s launch, the minister stressed that “there is no immunity from the law in this country”.
“So the KPK (Corruption Eradication Commission) can (audit), especially if there are improper or criminal actions, it is very, very possible,” he said, adding that the BPK may also conduct checks and audits on the new fund.
When asked by CNA whether Parliament’s approval is needed to audit Danantara, Rosan said the KPK could audit the newly launched sovereign wealth fund “anytime”. Still, he said the BPK, meanwhile, would have to go through a mechanism to audit Danantara, without revealing further details.
Besides concerns about its transparency, there are also worries about whether Danantara could be successful, which Prabowo believes is understandable.
“This can be expected because this is a new initiative in our history,” said Prabowo on Monday.
“Today, all Indonesians can be proud because, with a total asset of more than US$900 billion under management, Danantara Indonesia will be one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.”
Source: Channel News Asia