Indonesia to be used merely as a place to raise share prices in mining
Saturday, June 3 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
A member of the House of Representatives (DPR) has expressed fear that Indonesia will only be used as a place to raise share prices in the mining sector by foreign companies which have gone public overseas, the Astage.com reported on Friday.
Pramono Anung, a member of Commission VII of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said in Jakarta on Friday that the companies, which hold a license in distribution and marketing, will get capital gains in their countries, while Indonesia will not receive any benefit from it at all.
"Therefore we hope that the bill on oil and gas to be handed over by the government for the deliberation at the House of Representatives later this month has to be fixed, especially in the management of distribution and marketing. There should no longer be a conflict of interest between the government and state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina as in the previous bill," Pramono said.
He said that Commission VII still considers that in managing natural resources, especially mining, its distribution and marketing should not be open to the market mechanism, but be under the control of the government. Only the exploration, exploitation and processing can be given to the liberalization system, he said.
"If it is open to the market mechanism, nothing can be held by the government. On the other hand, it is full of global players who know no boundaries and in this case only money which plays the major role," Pramono said.
In the previous bill submitted during Kuntoro's tenure as the Minister of Mines and Energy there was no clear-cut clarification on who is in charge of regulating, who is authorized in managing and who holds the mining concessions, Pramono said.
He also urged the government to change Pertamina's status into a limited liability company to enable it to work efficiently. Therefore Regulation No.8/1971 on Pertamina's rights as a regulator has to be changed and revised. "By becoming a limited liability company, Pertamina's achievement can measured," he added. (*)