Dahlan : I Won't Liquidate Ailing State Firms

Makassar, S Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan gave the assurance that the government will not liquidate a number of state-owned companies even though they are on the brink of bankruptcy.

"I will not liquidate them. If they are to be liquidated it will not be us but the law which requires us to do so," he said while visiting shipbuilding company PT Industri Kapal Indonesia Makassar on Monday.

Asked to comment on the idea of merging the state firms, he said if the merger was to make them better the government would do it.

"For instance, company A is in the right pocket and company B in the left pocket. If they are merged, they still belong to the government, It doesn't matter. But I still don't see which of them will be merged," he said.

On the acquisition of seven state firms declared bankrupt, he said it was not a problem because it was state firms and not private companies that had acquired the state firms.

"There are seven companies. But I don't remember all of them. I don't want to speak much about the companies. As a matter of fact, we have not yet discussed the problem," he said.

A report had it that PT Energy Management Indonesia, Balai Pustaka, Pradnya Paramita, PT Permodalan Nasional Madani, IStaka Karya would be liquidated because they were not profitable.

A number of state firms were supposed to be liquidated last year but it did not happen. (S012)