“The LoI is Nothing New”

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:Pazkah Suzetta, a member of the Budget Committee from the Golkar Party, is of the opinion that the Letter of Intent (LoI) that has just been signed is a simple repeat of the previous LoI. He then added that there has not been any economic improvement in Indonesia. “The LoI never changes,” he said to TEMPO News Room at the legislature complex this afternoon (29/8).

Suzetta perceives that the dominant thread of the LoI is an assurances for the assets under the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) and State-owned Enterprises (BUMN). Suzette regrets that the government has not reorientated its program. “[The government] has simply sold the assets,” he said, when in fact the most important thing would have been to achieve a reorientation through implementing a new program in IBRA.

He suggested, for example, that a new program could be established to set up the assets, restructure the assets, and draw obligations. He was also disappointed that the government did not include a program reorientation in the LoI, such as how the IBRA might be able to draw on current obligations. “This amounts to about 420 trillion rupiah,” he said.

According to Suzetta, there are now about two thousands small, medium and large debtors, who form a total of 90 percent of all debtors. However, only ten percent have been restructured, including the Credit for Farmers program that amounts to Rp 9 trillion. The restructuring of this organization would not have been possible without assistance. (Retno Sulistyowati)