Sumber : Infobank
PRESIDENT Prabowo Subianto has ambitions to rebuild state-owned enterprises (SOEs). Through the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency (Danantara), launched in early 2025, Prabowo aims to make SOEs an asset for the nation’s future. With total assets currently exceeding US$ 900 billion, President Prabowo envisions Danantara becoming the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund (SVF).
The question is, will President Prabowo Subianto succeed in realizing his ambition? Currently, many stateowned enterprises (SOEs) are dominated by companies with poor performance records and massive debts. Time will tell.
However, President Prabowo must learn from the experiences of previous presidents who also had been ambitious towards SOEs. After their terms ended, SOEs performance did not live up to their aspirations. For example, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) had ambitions to strengthen the effectiveness and efficiency of SOEs through a rightsizing strategy. Through the 2010-2014 SOE Master Plan, SBY targeted reducing the number of SOEs to 81 by 2014.
However, this effort failed, and at the end of his term, the number of SOEs remained at 119, not including hundreds of subsidiaries. However, there are positives from the SBY administration: the influx of top professionals who successfully resolved the crisis within SOEs, including Agus Martowardojo at Bank Mandiri and Ignasius Jonan at Kereta Api Indonesia. At the end of his presidency, SBY also successfully merged 14 state-owned enterprises (PTPN) into a single holding company and merged six state-owned forestry companies into one company.
Therefore, what about Joko Widodo ( Jokowi), who wanted to transform state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into agile, competitive companies capable of attacking other countries? To support his ambitions in the early stages of his presidency, Jokowi discussed the need for foreign chief executive officers (CEOs) to lead SOEs. The number of SOEs was also planned to decrease in line with the government’s restructuring and holding efforts. In his first term, Jokowi aimed to disband the Ministry of SOEs and transform it into a superholding by 2019.
Two periods in office, there were no signs of Joko wi’s ambitions being successful. There wasn’t super holding, and the SOEs Ministry remained in existence and had become increasingly powerful in doing the interventions. Holdings without mergers have not reduced the number of state-owned enterprises. SOEs, which serve as agents of development, also bear political burdens, leading many to financial collapse.
Tragically, the high-speed rail project’s costs have jumped to US$7.27 billion (around Rp115 trillion), well above the original US$6 billion. The Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI) consortium, managing PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) with Chinese partners and 58.53% owned by Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) alongside Wijaya Karya, Perkebunan Nusantara, and Jasa Marga, covers 60% of the funding. KAI posted losses of Rp2.69 trillion in 2024 and Rp951.48 billion in the first half of 2025, raising concerns about the financial strain on state-owned firms.
Thus, Jokowi’s vision of creating agile, competitive state-owned enterprises (SOEs) capable of competing with other countries has instead resulted in many ailing SOEs requiring state funding. According to data from The Asian Post, during the 2015-2024 period, or throughout Jokowi’s administration, the government had disbursed Rp 424.73 trillion in state capital investment (PMN) to SOEs. Meanwhile, SOEs contributed Rp 496.76 trillion in dividends. This means the government received only Rp 72.03 trillion in net dividends from all SOEs.
Compare that to a private company like Bank Central Asia (BCA), owned by the Djarum Group. For the same period, from 2015 to 2024, BCA’s accumulated profit was Rp 319.26 trillion. Meanwhile, BCA has distributed dividends over the ten-year period amounted to Rp 163.71 trillion. With a 55% stake in BCA, Djarum has received a dividend portion of Rp 90.04 trillion. This is greater than the net dividends received by the state from 160 state-owned enterprises.
With the largest market capitalization of Rp 1,041.67 trillion among all issuers on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, BCA has become a symbol of modern banking governance: efficient, innovative, professionally managed, and trusted by investors. BCA’s impressive performance has led to a “wild” desire for the government to “seize” BCA from the Djarum Group, which officially acquired BCA shares in 2002 through Farallon. “This kind of ‘hostile takeover’ idea, if it is brought into politics and power, is very dangerous, Indonesia’s political economic system will be damaged, which is misleading,” said Didik Rachbini, a senior economist who serves as Rector of Paramadina University.
The idea of seizing BCA shares was raised by Sasmito Hadinegoro, Chairman of the State Institute for Economic and Financial Research. The proposal, which was dismissed by several economists and practitioners as “misguided,” was later embraced by Ahmad Iman Syukri, a politician from the National Awakening Party (PKB). The idea appears to encourage the state to thuggery through the seizure of private assets to generate revenue for the state budget (APBN).
The government is indeed facing a dilemma amid fiscal pressure. The free nutrition program (MBG) must be implemented to maintain government popularity, but many state-owned enterprises (SOEs) need to be rescued.
The performance of SOEs, which is far below their potential, has angered President Prabowo Subianto. In his official speech at the 2026’s State Budget (APBN) Bill hearing, Prabowo stated that Danantara must conduct a “clean-up” of SOEs. He argued that SOEs management has been unreasonable.
“The management is unreasonable, the company is losing money, and there are too many commissioners! I’m cutting the number of commissioners in half, with a maximum of six, if possible four or five, and I’m eliminating bonuses,” he asserted at the Nusantara Building, Parliament Complex, Jakarta, (August 15, 2025). “how can there be a commissioner meeting once a month, with bonuses of Rp 40 billion a year?” Prabowo said.
The reality of the poor performance of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is also acknowledged by Dony Oskaria, Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Danantara. According to him, of all 1,046 SOEs, including subsidiaries, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, 53% are performing poorly, with annual losses reaching Rp 50 trillion. “97 percent of SOEs dividends come from eight companies,” Dony said in a special talk show titled “Reading the Direction of the Economy and Fiscal Policy 2026” with CT Corp Chairman Chairul Tanjung, Friday (August 15). In fact, a source of Infobank in a state-owned enterprise (BUMN) stated that only three state-owned enterprises (SOEs) whose profits are supported by their business performance are Bank Mandiri, BNI, and Telkom.
According to The Asian Post’s research entitled Rating of 160 SOEs 2025, based on 2024 (audited) there are 92 red plate’s company achieved a combined profit of Rp 508,53 trillion. This figure from 25 SOEs, consists of Rp 212.92 trillion in profits adding 28 non-public SOEs and their publicly listed subsidiaries, Rp 149.08 trillion in profits plus 39 branch from non-public SOE subsidiaries, Rp 146.53 trillion in profits.
The top five publicly listed state-owned enterprises with the highest profits, in order, are Bank Mandiri with Rp 61.16 trillion, Bank Rakyat Indonesia with Rp 60.64 trillion, Telekomunikasi Indonesia with Rp 30.74 trillion, Bank Negara Indonesia with Rp 21.67 trillion, and Perusahaan Gas Negara with Rp 7.10 trillion.
Of the 33 publicly listed state-owned enterprises, eight suffered losses totaling Rp 13.58 trillion as of the 2024 financial year. The eight companies, in order of largest losses, were Waskita Karya with a loss of Rp 3.91 trillion, Wijaya Karya with a loss of Rp 2.51 trillion, Krakatau Steel with a loss of Rp 2.40 trillion, Garuda Indonesia with a loss of Rp 1.13 trillion, Kimia Farma with a loss of Rp 1.21 trillion, PP Properti with a loss of Rp 1.10 trillion, Waskita Beton Precast with a loss of Rp 997 billion, and Infofarma with a loss of Rp 334.50 billion.
Meanwhile, based on financial statement there’s two (SOEs) recorded losses totaling Rp 556.29 billion, including IFG, which lost Rp 387.37 billion, and Perum Percetakan, which lost Rp 168.92 billion. Furthermore, 12 SOE subsidiaries posted accumulated losses of Rp38.77 trillion, with the largest loss being suffered by the Pertamina Internasional Refinery, which lost Rp 34.87 trillion.
This means that the total losses suffered by some SOEs reached Rp 55.19 trillion in 2024, exceeding the Rp 50 trillion reported by Dony Askara.
In fact, if the losses suffered by SOEs under the Ministry of Finance are added, the total losses for the Eight SOEs reach Rp 9.63 trillion. Meanwhile two SOEs under Financial Ministey, PT Tuban Petrochemical Industries and PT Bina Karya until middle August 2025 hasn’t reported the statement yet, in 2023 accordingly had loss Rp9,98 Billion and Rp16,91Billion.
Therefore, given the numerous losses and massive debt piles experienced by state-owned enterprises, President Prabowo Subianto’s ambition to rebuild SOEs under the umbrella of Danantara is not as easy as flipping a switch.
The question is, why have the government’s major agendas to advance SOEs so far been difficult to realize, and SOEs have even become a breeding ground for problems?
According to The Asian Post Research, at least four reasons why SOEs are characterized require state funding.
The first is the political factors. SOEs are state-owned enterprises that exist between the market and politics. Because SOEs is determined by the market, SOEs should be market-oriented. However, in practice, state-owned enterprises must comply with political and bureaucratic demands.
The second is the government’s assignments to undertake projects are not business-feasible and rely on commercial loans, coupled with poor financial management. The third is the mismanagement and the absence of a clear strategy that have prevented the company from competing in the market. The fourth is the ineffective oversight function of the board of commissioners, supporting the government and ministerial officials.
Developing a state-owned enterprise without the best professionals will certainly be difficult. Because chief executive officers (CEOs) who lead state-owned enterprises (BUMNs). It’s because they must navigate cultural issues, bureaucratic intervention. Consider the facts: Why is BCA superior to state-owned enterprises? It is because BCA is able to compete openly in the market, is not bound by bureaucracy, and is naturally managed by the best professionals.
So, whether or not President Prabowo Subianto’s ambitions for state-owned enterprises will be successful is not simply about establishing BPI Danantara. After the President and Danantara’s top leaders have clearly determined the direction of the state-owned enterprises, the CEOs of the state-owned enterprises are the ones to execute them. The results will be certainly different between SOEs led by the best CEOs and those led by position-seekers.”
The question is, will President Prabowo Subianto succeed in realizing his ambition? Currently, many stateowned enterprises (SOEs) are dominated by companies with poor performance records and massive debts. Time will tell.
