Jakarta. Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund Danantara has defended the government’s decision to allow foreign professionals to hold key executive positions in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), calling it a crucial step toward improving efficiency, transparency, and global competitiveness.

The policy, initiated under President Prabowo Subianto, marks a significant shift in Indonesia’s state enterprise management approach, which has traditionally been led by local executives.

On Wednesday, national carrier Garuda Indonesia announced the appointment of two expatriates to its board of directors:

• Balagopal Kunduvara, a Singaporean with 25 years at Singapore Airlines, most recently as Divisional Vice President for Financial Services, was named Director of Finance and Risk Management.
• Neil Raymond Mills, a British executive and former Chief Procurement Officer and Head of Transformation at Scandinavian Airlines, was appointed Director of Transformation.

Rosan Roeslani, Danantara’s Chief Executive Officer and concurrently Minister of Investment, said the policy aligns with Indonesia’s broader effort to reform SOE governance and eliminate entrenched inefficiencies.

“The law has been revised, allowing us to place expatriates at the management level with strong professional backgrounds,” Rosan said on Thursday.
“The goal is to make SOEs work efficiently, transparently, and to eradicate corruption and other irregularities.”

Rosan confirmed that Danantara may extend the recruitment of foreign executives to other SOEs beyond Garuda Indonesia, but stressed that selection will be highly selective to ensure meaningful technology and knowledge transfer.

“We want these executives to elevate SOEs to an international level,” he said.

He added that the inclusion of foreign leaders at the management level is expected to strengthen policy direction and accelerate the implementation of strategic reforms across Indonesia’s state-owned enterprises.