February 23, 2016 edition
Think like an investor. That is what the government should do when it comes to the shares of Freeport Indonesia. Good investors carefully calculate prices offered to them.
Last month, in fulfilling the obligation to divest itself, the US mining giant Freeport offered the government 10.64 percent of its shares at a whopping US$1.7 billion (Rp22.9 trillion) price. This exorbitant price is the consequence of the contract between the government and Freeport. There is no rule governing pricing.
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More Opinion articles in other editions
February 16, 2016 edition
Skyrocketing prices of poultry in recent weeks is a clear indication that the government is powerless against the cartel. A handful of poultry breeders have deliberately controlled supply to rake in more profits, without considering the effects on consumers.
Ironically, the state even helped facilitate this shameful practice. The directorate-general of livestock and animal health openly supported the agreement among 12 poultry breeders to cull 6 million parent stock broilers. In the deal signed on September 14 last year, the breeders also agreed to destroy 40 percent of hatching eggs.
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February 9, 2016 edition
President Jokowi may have taken a wrong and dangerous path when he signed, in quick succession, two contradictory regulations that will impact the Jakarta-Bandung rapid rail project.
The first, Presidential Regulation No. 107/2015 on the acceleration of infrastructure and facilities, stipulates that the Rp74 trillion project will be entirely funded by the private sector, in other words by the Indonesia-China Fast Railway Consortium. The government will not provide any guarantees, the clause that assured the Chinese consortium's victory over its rival Japanese bidder.
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February 2, 2016 edition
The police have now determined that Abdurrahman played a signficant role in the tragic incident that left eight people deadfive of them the attackers themselvesand scores of police officers and bystanders hurt. Notably, Abdurrahman's involvement exposed, once again, the government's incompetence in monitoring terrorism inmates inside prisons.
Abdurrahman a.k.a. Abu Sulaiman is behind bars at Kembang Kuning prison on Nusakambangan, Central Java. He is the founder of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). A native of Sumedang, West Java, Abdurrahman is suspected of having communicated with the January 14 attackers on Jalan Thamrin.
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January 26, 2016 edition
THE government should pay extra attention to the current drop in global oil prices. Decision makers in the economic sector should not be alarmed by the declining price of this 'black gold'. They should see it as a temporary trend and anticipate its negative consequences.
Many are shocked by the free-falling prices of global oil. Last week the price dropped to US$29 per barrel the lowest in the past 12 yearsa whopping 74 percent drop compared to the highest point on June 19, 2015, at US$114 per barrel.
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January 19, 2016 edition
Sixty years have passed, seven administrations have come and gone, but not much has changed for illegal migrant workers in Nunukan, North Kalimantan.
Since the 1960s, thousands of Indonesians in the region have passed through the Malaysian border illegally. Due to their illegal status, they receive no protection as they work as cheap laborers: farmers, domestic and even sex workers.
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January 12, 2016 edition