JAKARTA - It's not business as usual for Indonesia's minister of state owned enterprises, Erick Thohir.
"To make sure SOEs are competitive is to make sure the corporate governance is there," Mr Erick told the Straits Times in an interview. In 2015 Pertamina's trading arm Petral was closed after investigations showed the unit paid inflated prices for crude oil and refined products. Last month, Mr Erick commissioned McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group to recommend an overhaul in the state owned sector that would marry up struggling companies with healthier ones, improve skills, scout opportunities in advanced technology fields like big data and AI and pare back companies to their core businesses.
But critics said Mr Thohir's plans do not add up to the sort of investment boom necessary to spur growth and create jobs.