Hadi explained that Indonesia must remain open to global talent and should not make citizenship an issue when specific expertise is needed.
"If Indonesian citizens are capable, of course we will support them. But if, for now, we need skills and competencies from someone who happens to be a foreign national, then why not?" he said after a ministerial meeting in Jakarta.
He said the policy aims to make SOE management systems more adaptive to international standards, comparing it to strategies used in professional football, where foreign coaches are brought in to boost national teams' performance.
"It is just like football. If we have a good local coach, we use them. But if we need a foreign coach, that's fine too, because sometimes we need that push to improve," he stated.
Hadi added that the recruitment of foreign nationals has already been incorporated into the newly revised internal regulations of SOEs.
His remarks followed Prabowo's announcement that foreign nationals are now permitted to lead SOEs under new rules.
"I have changed the rules. Now expatriates can lead our SOEs," Prabowo said during a dialogue with Forbes Media Group Chairman Steve Forbes in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Prabowo also said he had instructed Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund, Danantara, to recruit top international talent in line with global business standards.
"I told Danantara's management to find the best talent, even from abroad," he noted.
Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia recently appointed two foreign nationals to its board of directors: Balagopal Kunduvara as director of finance and risk management, and Neil Raymond Mills as director of transformation. Their appointments were formalized at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on October 15.
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Translator: Anita Permata, Kuntum Khaira
Editor: Anton Santoso
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