Moratorium Demanded on All DPR Construction Projects

Jakarta Globe, Rizky Amelia, January 16, 2012

Indonesia Corruption Watch displays a toilet during a press conference on
Sunday to demand a moratorium on construction works in the House of
Representatives, including the planned Rp 2 billion renovation of lavatories
in one of its buildings. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal). 

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The fallout from a $2.2 million meeting room renovation project at the House of Representatives continued on Sunday as antigraft groups demanded it put down the hammers and open the books.

The Anti-Budget Mafia Coalition, which includes Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the construction projects taking place at the House of Representatives were not as open and transparent as they should be.

It demanded a moratorium on all construction and renovation work and an audit into the projects that had already taken place.

Apung Widadi, from the ICW, said with no one watching over the House on these projects, corruption was more likely. He said the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) needed to take a close look at all the construction projects undertaken or planned for the House.

The group also called on the House Secretariat General and the Household Affairs Committee (BURT) to focus on building a transparent evaluation system for all projects at the legislature.

“While the BURT and the Secretariat General improve their performance, all projects at the DPR should be temporarily frozen, a moratorium imposed,” Apung said.

Coming on the heels of criticism over a Rp 2 billion ($220,000) plan to renovate the toilets at one of the buildings used by lawmakers, the House was found to have spent Rp 20 billion to renovated a relatively small meeting room to be used by the House Budget Committee. The House has already canceled a plan in the face of mounting public criticism to build a luxurious 36-story tower to house lawmakers’ offices.

The tower was originally expected to cost taxpayers Rp 1.8 trillion, but the price went down to Rp 700 billion before the plan was scrapped.

Apung said the coalition had asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate suspicions of graft in some of the House projects.

Indonesia Budget Center researcher Roy Salam did not mince words in talking about the meeting room project.

“This renovation stinks of corruption,” he said.

The tender selection, he said, was held twice, with 13 companies originally eligible to complete but later only state-owned Pembangunan Perumahan deemed eligible.

A second tender yielded three companies, including Pembangunan Perumahan, but the two other firms were dropped due to what were called “incomplete administrative documents.”

Roy said the all the paperwork should have been checked before the tender, not after.

Apung said the leadership of the House was to blame for failing to properly supervise all the institutions within the House, including the secretariat and the BURT.

He said this lack of supervision from the leadership, combined with the lack of transparency at the secretariat, created an atmosphere where corruption could thrive.

Roy added that the secretariat was obliged to publish tender documents. Failure to do so breaks several laws, including the Public Information Openness Law, the Law on State Finance and the Law on the State Treasury.

He said his institution would demand that the contract documents for the latest renovation project be made public.

“This will show just how much the state lost,” he said.

Apung said the Rp 20 billion price tag was too high. “Our estimate is that it should have only cost Rp 500 million,” he said.

Taslim Chaniago, a member of the House Budget Committee from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said on Friday that he was resigning from the committee in protest over the project.

A glimpse of the renovated House of Representatives Budget Committee
 meeting room in Jakarta on Wednesday. The renovation cost Rp 20 billion
($2.2 million) and has been criticized as a lavish expenditure. It comes on
the heels of a House plan for new toilet facilities that would have cost taxpayers
Rp 2 billion. (Antara Photo/Yudhi Mahatma)     

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Goldman, Morgan in Talks to Buy Indonesian Brokers: Sources

Jakarta Globe, September 12, 2011

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Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are each in talks to buy an Indonesian brokerage firm to expand their reach into the booming capital market of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, sources said.

Goldman is in talks to buy Tiga Pilar Sekuritas and expects to complete the acquisition before the end of 2011 as it aims to start a local brokerage operation next year, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal told Reuters on Monday.

Goldman does not have an underwriting or broking license in Indonesia, while Morgan Stanley secured an underwriting licence in 2008, but is seeking a bigger presence through a full-fledged broker license.

Both banks plan to add research analysts as well as sales and trading staff to the brokerages next year, while Goldman could also add investment bankers, as they seek to win fees from equity offerings and debt deals, the sources said.

“I think this signals a positive view on our capital market ... It has really become an important destination for global investment banks,” said Winston Sual, who manages nearly $1 billion in funds at Panin Sekuritas in Jakarta.

“This will give more competition for fees among global bankers like JPMorgan and Credit Suisse.”

The banks’ plans in Indonesia, which has seen its stock market hit records this year on surging foreign investment, follow moves by Nomura Holdings and Citigroup to ramp up equity research teams in Jakarta this year to challenge leaders Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

Investment interest in the G20 member is set to rise again next year, when Indonesia hopes to get an upgrade by Fitch Ratings to an investment grade sovereign rating that will put it alongside top emerging BRIC nations such as Brazil. 

Goldman has completed due diligence for Tiga Pilar and both parties are now negotiating the deal structure and valuation, said one of the sources, who all declined to be identified.

“Goldman has already asked Tiga Pilar to start looking for prospective staff and bankers as a precondition before they complete the deal,” said the source. No financial details were immediately available.

Officials at Tiga Pilar and Goldman declined to comment.

The Tiga Pilar deal size is likely to be small as Goldman is only seeking to buy the operating licenses that the deal will provide. It will need to at least inject the Rp 50 billion ($6 million) in license costs and required brokerage capital.

Tiga Pilar, partly owned by the family of Tan Pia Sioe, traded Rp 445 billion by stock value in the first six months of this year, ranking it 102 out of 117 active brokerages, according to stock exchange data.

The IDX composite index has jumped over 5 percent so far this year, topping the list of gainers in Southeast Asia. 

Goldman’s rival Morgan Stanley has also identified a target brokerage firm to acquire and hopes to conduct due diligence this year in order to start operations next year, said three other sources with direct knowledge of this deal.

“Talks are ongoing. It is still early to mid-phase. Morgan Stanley is talking to people,” said one of the sources. Sources declined to give the name of the target brokerage and no financial details were available.

A Morgan Stanley spokesman declined to comment. The talks are aimed at either buying a brokerage to get their seat on the stock exchange or to buy a seat from an existing brokerage, one of the sources said.

A full broking license would allow the firm to cover the secondary side of sales and trading as well as research, the source added.

Citigroup bought Indonesian brokerage Republik last year and this year added bankers and analysts, including veteran analyst Ferry Wong from Macquarie as its new head of research.

Citi was not in the top five for underwriting Indonesian equity deals last year but this year has surged up the league table to rank second among global banks, behind Deutsche.

Reuters

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Letter from publisher: Change and continuity at ‘The Jakarta Post’

The Jakarta Post | Tue, 08/03/2010 9:00 AM

In an era where change seems to be the only constant, The Jakarta Post officially installed Meidyatama Suryodiningrat as its fifth Editor-in-Chief effective Aug. 1, 2010.

New boss: New The Jakarta Post chief editor
Meidyatama Suryodiningrat (right) poses with the
Post’s president director Jusuf Wanandi during the
handing over of a letter of appointment. Meidyatama
replaces Endy M. Bayuni as the Post’s editor-in-chief.
JP/Arief Suhardiman

He on Monday officially replaced Endy M. Bayuni, who served with distinction for six years after a career spanning back to the first months of the Post in 1983. Endy steps down with the appreciation of the Board of Directors and shareholders of PT Bina Media Tenggara, publishers of the newspaper.

Meidyatama graduated from Canada’s Carleton University and more recently completed his Fellowship at Harvard University’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

As someone who joined the post in 1993 — the Post’s second decade in existence — Meidyatama represents a generation of journalist bred in the whirlwind of “new media” change, while retaining journalistic qualities that have served this newspaper well.

The challenges that lie ahead for the Indonesian media are both novel and complex. More than just promoting a humane civil society, which has been this paper’s pronounced vision, Meidyatama takes over the helm in an era of transformation both for the nation and its media.

The immediate mission of this organization is to broaden its focus to serve its loyal community

in a multi-platform environment while maintaining the qualities of mature journalism by carrying out a daily conversation advocating for a nation built on values of pluralism, good governance, transparency and justice.

With your loyal support, Indonesia’s oldest and most trusted English-language daily, under the aegis of Meidyatama’s editorship, will evolve to become an agora of ideas, a pillar of the fourth estate and a reference as the journal of Indonesia today.

— The Publisher

Government Introduce New Transparency Law on Mining

Tempo Interactive, Friday, 07 May, 2010 | 18:53 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government announced that it has introduced a new regulation on transparency of state revenue from extraction industry to regulate revenue reports off all parties involved in mining idustry from the regional authorities to state mining firms.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa said on Friday (7/5) the Presidential Regulation No.26 of 2010 paves the way for the formation of an enforcement team that will monitor and ensure transparent revenue reporting by the end of this year.

Under the regulation five institutions and one person will become the directors of the policy which include the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Energy and Mineral Resources Department, Finance Department, Home Affairs Department, the Finance and Development Comptroller and former Environment Minister Professor Emil Salim.

In the execution level, there were all lower officials with the above institutions, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Body, Pertamina and representatives from regions where extraction of natural resources occurred.

Hatta said the government is expected to complete formation of the team which will start working in 2011. He said the same measure is possible for forestry sector but now the government is focusing on the most destructive industry because it relates to the sustainability of the resources.

RIEKA RAHADIANA