TEMPO Interactive, Banyuwangi: Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Dahlan Iskan said that this year his ministry was revitalizing 12 sugar factories of 22 owned by PT Perkebunan Nusantara. “Hopefully, the other 10 will recover next year,” he said in Banyuwangi on Thursday, June 21, 2012. Dahlan Iskan explained that priority was management improvement, believed to be the main culprit behind national sugar needs not being met. “The problem is not the machine. Even with a new machine, if the management is bad, well, nothing will come out of it,” he said. The requirements to end up sugar factory chief shall be improved upon. The process should not be long and convoluted. “Today, someone who is only 20 years should be able to become factory chief provided he or she is capable and has a good track record,” said the boss of Jawa Pos Group. Secondly, gain the confidence of sugarcane farmers who do not trust sugar factories, particularly those who believe factories are in it to make a profit from a pricing monopoly. To do this, Dahlan said, sugar factories must guarantee subsidies to farmers if the sugarcane yield is less than seven percent. In addition, farmers must be paid in cash. “In the past, for sugarcane that is delivered today, the farmers are paid in one or two months,” he said. Finally, said Dahlan, this year’s imports of raw sugar are in the hands of the dying sugar factories. Grind the raw sugar together with the local sugar in order to increase sugar production. Up until today, raw sugar imports are used by refined sugar factories thus killing sugar factories owned by SOEs. IKA NINGTYAS