Corporate governance: Towards bonum commune?

Perspective is about bringing together things that seem to have no relation to each other so that they could be more easily understood in a context. It sounds simple. But it helps scrutinising the relationship between noble idea of good governance and hullabaloo of corporate responsibility. Why these two? Firstly, because discourse about good governance today cannot but touch upon the issue of corporate governance. And secondly, because corporate responsibility has become the issue of corporate governance.

It has been admitted that corporations are playing vital role in developments as they create employment, produce goods and services, bring investments and thus economic growth. As no one would disagree that good governance is necessary for development, neither do they contradict the idea that good governance should be applied to corporate world. Even, it flowers a thought that business should be allowed to regulate themselves.

Martabat buruh, kinerja modal dan penyelenggaraan publik

Oleh Yanuar Nugroho
CSR Review 13 Januari 2008

“Globalisasi produksi kini tengah membentuk kembali lansekap ekonomi internasional. Dengan itu, pengetahuan lama yang mengatakan bahwa negara maju adalah eksportir modal dan teknologi dan negara berkembang sebagai importirnya pelan-pelan harus minggir dan memberikan tempat bagi relasi keduanya yang lebih kompleks… Tren saat ini mempunyai implikasi yang penting bagi pembagian kerja di dunia. Pandangan tradisional bahwa aktivitas produksi yang lebih kompleks dilakukan di Utara dan yang sederhana di Selatan makin tidak mencerminkan realitas. Perusahaan kini melihat bahwa negara berkembang menjadi penting bukan hanya karena buruh murah, tetapi terutama pertumbuhan, ketrampilan dan teknologi.”

Setelah demo masif para buruh menolak revisi UU No. 13/2003 yang sarat dengan pengabaian hak-hak pekerja, pemerintah akhirnya mengambil sikap untuk mengevaluasi pelaksanaan UU tersebut sebelum merevisinya.  Tentu sikap ini disambut baik oleh buruh. Namun, pengusaha menunjukkan gelagat lain: mereka ngotot minta revisi segera dilakukan dengan tetap menggunakan draft yang sudah ditolak tersebut. Alasannya, revisi itu perlu untuk memikat investasi.  Jika saja kita mau sedikit lebih jeli melihat problematika ketenagakerjaan itu, disana ada tegangan mendasar: martabat manusia dan kuasa modal.

Commodum toti populo – The benefit is for the whole society

An Indonesian business magazine, Investor, just interviewed me via email. The interview was about CSR/corporate social responsibility. From the long question list that I reviewed, the magazine seems to be genuinely seeking for more comprehensive understanding about the topic. So, albeit my tight schedule and deadlines for my PhD writing up and preparing a talk among Indonesian students in the UK on ‘privatisation’ this weekend, I spent nearly 90 minutes completing the interview.

Tatakelola bisnis: Menuju bonum commune?

Media Indonesia, 25 September 2005
Yanuar Nugroho
Direktur Eksekutif, The Business Watch Indonesia

Perspektif membantu kita memahami hal-hal yang nampaknya tak berkaitan, atau sebaliknya mempertanyakan hubungan sesuatu yang nampaknya jelas dan sudah diterima luas. Misalnya, gagasan mulia good governance (tatakelola yang baik) dan corporate social responsibility (CSR, tanggung jawab sosial korporasi).

Mengapa dua hal ini? Pertama, karena menggagas tatakelola tidak bisa tidak menyentuh tatakelola korporasi dan bisnis. Dan kedua, karena CSR nampaknya sedang menjadi pusat perhatian dalam tatakelola korporasi dan bisnis.

Dilema Tanggung Jawab Korporasi

Media Indonesia – OPINI – 23 Agustus 2005

Yanuar Nugroho

SESUDAH berbagai gebrakan melawan korupsi, kabinet SBY-JK tampaknya kini mencecar tanggung jawab korporasi. Menindaklanjuti hasil Program Penilaian Peringkat Perusahaan (Proper) 2005 yang dilansir awal bulan ini, KLH sudah mengeluarkan ancaman dini. Ia akan menggugat perusahaan berperingkat hitam dengan dakwaan pencemaran lingkungan (Media Indonesia, 9/8).

Akuntabilitas

TEROPONG – Mingguan Hidup, November 2004

Yanuar Nugroho

Sampai hari ini, masih ramai soal Teluk Buyat. Konon kabarnya, dari tambang emas yang dikelola oleh PT. Newmont Minahasa Raya itu, dibuang ke laut lebih dari 2.000 ton tailing atau limbah tambang yang mengandung logam berat setiap harinya. Akibatnya, lebih dari 100 warga Buyat, Ratatotok, Kabupaten Minahasa Selatan, Provinsi Sulawesi Utara, menderita penyakit Minamata, yaitu kerusakan saraf. Mereka menderita gatal-gatal dan kejang pada tubuh, kemudian muncul benjolan. Benjolan yang muncul dalam banyak varian pada sejumlah penderita, yakni di tangan, kaki, tengkuk, pantat, kepala atau payudara ini diduga sebagai akibat kontaminasi logam berat arsen dan merkuri yang mencemari Teluk Buyat dari PT NMR .

Fear and loathing of agrarian modernization

The Jakarta Post, 27 October 2003 : opinion & editorial

Yanuar Nugroho

During the international trade talks last month in Cancun, Mexico, South Korean leader of its farmers’ and fishers’ union, Lee Kyung-hae, 54, stabbed himself at a violent protest. The former lawmaker, who later died, had earlier climbed a high security fence and waved a banner that read “WTO kills farmers”.

With regard to the controversy upon his death, he may have been correct in addressing that concern.

Kepemilikan Intelektual – Saat Manusia Bermain sebagai Tuhan

TEROPONG, Mingguan Hidup, September 2003

oleh Yanuar Nugroho

Saat ini, uang menentukan hidup mati seseorang. Makin sedikit anda punya uang, makin sedikit pula kesempatan anda untuk hidup di bumi ini. Suka atau tidak, ini sebuah fakta. Setidaknya, kini kita hidup dalam sebuah dunia dimana mati atau hidup bukan lagi sesuatu yang ‘alamiah’, melainkan ‘bisa dibuat’.

Earth Day: Rethinking our approach to the earth

The Jakarta Post, 23 April 2003 – HEADLINE NEWS

by Yanuar Nugroho,

Founded in 1970 by Gaylord Nelson, a former United States senator from Wisconsin, Earth Day has grown into a global event. This year, April 22 marks the 33rd celebration of Earth Day, a day when people around the world hold events to honor our planet and to remind everyone about the importance of our ecosystem.

No other choice but to sell our souls

The Jakarta Post, 13 March 2003 : Opinion & Editorial

Yanuar Nugroho
From 161 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Indonesia, only 145 are registered and the other 16 are unregistered as SOEs, yet they hold the status of state body corporations (perusahaan jawatan or perjan). Only 11 of the 145 registered SOEs handed over dividends worth Rp 21 trillion to the state. The other 134 SOEs, contributed nothing financially to the state. Hence the office of the State minister for State Enterprises is in the process of liquidating 17 unprofitable state-run hospitals, to be either sold out or changed into a “corporate” hospitals, Suara Merdeka reported last year.

All the best, Lin Che Wei!

The Jakarta Post : Opinion & Editorial, Saturday, March 01, 2003

by Yanuar Nugroho

A short message service (SMS) on the morning of Feb. 25 read, “Please help invite as many economists, stock and market analysts and other professionals as possible, to come to the Attorney General’s Office this Tuesday, March 4 at 1 p.m. to support Lin Che Wei.” Being aware of what business would likely do to protect its interests, I spontaneously circulated the message among my inner circles and colleagues.

Profit amidst misery: Water is not a commodity

Opinion and Editorial – The Jakarta Post January 24, 2003

Yanuar Nugroho
The bill on water resources management may be ratified at any time this year. It involves plans for total restructuring of water management — the country’s water sector will be managed according to the market mechanism and there will be wide opportunities for private sector involvement in the water-based business. Precisely, it is all about privatization of water resources.

Business after the tragedy

The Jakarta Post, Opinion & Editorial, 21 October 2002

The world is shocked. Bali and Manado, two areas known for their calmness and peacefulness, were brutally disrupted by deadly explosions. Hundreds are dead and badly wounded. Most of them were overseas tourists — and a shocked world is now an angry world.

‘There are casualties in successful businesses’

The Jakarta Post, 23 September 2002, OPINION & EDITORIAL

The head of The Indonesian Control Body for Stock Market (Bapepam) Herwidayatmo last month stated that the number of public investors in Indonesia now number only 55,000, down from 1995 when there were more than two million investors.

Herwidayatmo said this is caused by three main factors: The economy, lack of good corporate governance and investor disappointment with stock market services. Are these reasons valid? Let’s look at some other facts.

Johannesburg Summit: Rethinking old practices

The Jakarta Post, 26 August 2002 – EDITORIAL & OPINION

by Yanuar Nugroho

The World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) will start in Johannesburg on Aug. 26 and end on Sept. 6. The summit is hoped to be able to make major corrections towards the way development has been taking place — at least after the Rio Summit.

The preparatory talks or PrepComIV held in Bali, the final stop before Johannesburg, was considered to have failed to address some important issues. It seems that we are forced to believe that there is only one way the development of our world should be conducted.

Privatizing public goods: Our lives up for sale

THE JAKARTA POST – Opinion & Editorial, Monday, 15 July 2002

by Yanuar Nugroho

Beware. In the coming years, we in Indonesia may have to pay more not only for our drinking water, but also for bathing and watering flowers at home. We may also have to pay for permission to dig a well in our backyards.

Worse, farmers and villagers may no longer be able to access water from rivers or springs, for corporations will already have been given the right to access all water resources.

Descartes might say: ‘I buy, therefore I am’

THE JAKARTA POST – Opinion and Editorial – July 10, 2002

Have you watched the TV quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It is a successful game show that has now been shown in 51 countries, reaping regular audiences of up to 20 million, and shows how much we all desire to share in the capitalist dream. Soap operas showing the rich getting richer, like Dallas or Dynasty, lost their appeal by the 1990s; today many like to believe that wealth is within reach of all of us.

Make our small space a better place to live

Opinion & Editorial – The Jakarta Post, 4 June 2002

Welcome to the world of the multinational corporation (MNC). This is the world where a cultural and economic tsunami has been roaring across the globe and replacing the spectacular diversity of human society with a Westernized version of the good life.

Whether you walk the streets of Paris, New York, Beijing, New Delhi, Canberra, Singapore or even here in Jakarta or Denpasar, the advancement of global economics practiced by most MNCs has introduced a level of commercial culture which is being McDonald’s-ized, in a distinctly homogeneous way.

The politics of information technology

Features – The Jakarta Post, 27 May 2002

by Yanuar Nugroho

Internet users throughout Indonesia must sense something was wrong between May 5 and May 10, when it took longer than usual to connect to the Internet.

Yes, the problem was not a common one. Domestic Internet traffic plunged, as it had to be re-routed via a foreign bandwidth. And yet, non-domestic traffic went on with no problem at all. Even sites owned by the central government (with the suffix go.id) were unable to be accessed. Why did this happen?