PKPU in brief

PKPU (Penundaan Kewajiban Pembayaran Utang, or suspension of debt payment obligations) is Indonesia's court-supervised restructuring procedure. It is governed, together with bankruptcy, by Law No. 37 of 2004 on Bankruptcy and Suspension of Debt Payment Obligations (the "Bankruptcy Law"). During PKPU, the debtor negotiates a composition plan with its creditors under the supervision of a Supervisory Judge and one or more court-appointed Administrators. If no composition plan is approved within the statutory period, the debtor is declared bankrupt (Article 230(1)).

Situations we most often handle

Your debtor has been placed under PKPU, and the claim filing deadline is already running.
Your claim has been disputed by the Administrator or the Receiver, or only partly admitted.
The composition plan on offer looks unreasonable, and you need to decide how to vote.
Your debtor has been declared bankrupt, and you need to make sure your claim is properly recorded.
A receivable has been overdue for a long time, and you are considering PKPU or bankruptcy as a recovery route.

What we do

Assess your position early. We review the documents behind your receivable, your standing as a secured or unsecured creditor, and the debtor's condition, then weigh the most rational route: negotiation, a lawsuit, PKPU, or bankruptcy.

File PKPU or bankruptcy petitions. A creditor may petition for PKPU against a debtor that it expects will be unable to continue paying its debts (Article 222(3) of the Bankruptcy Law). A creditor may also petition for bankruptcy where the debtor has two or more creditors and has not paid in full at least one debt that is due and payable (Article 2(1)).

Prepare and submit claims. Claims are submitted to the Administrator with a statement of the nature and amount of the claim and supporting evidence, and the creditor may request a receipt (Article 270). We make sure your file is complete before the deadline, not after it.

Represent you at creditors' meetings. We attend the claim verification meeting, respond to objections against your claim, and where warranted dispute other creditors' claims that lack a proper basis (Article 279(2)).

Assess the composition plan. We test the debtor's offer, compare it with a bankruptcy scenario, and recommend how you should vote. This matters because a ratified composition plan binds all creditors (Article 286).

Handle claim disputes in bankruptcy, including disputes over claims that the Receiver has refused to admit.

Key points for creditors

Issue	Rule	Basis
Who may apply for PKPU	The debtor, or a creditor	Article 222(1) and (3)
Decision on temporary PKPU at a creditor's request	No later than 20 days after the petition is registered	Article 225(3)
Maximum duration of PKPU	Including extensions, no more than 270 days after temporary PKPU is pronounced	Article 228(6)
Gap between claim deadline and composition meeting	At least 14 days	Article 268(2)
If no composition plan is approved in time	The debtor is declared bankrupt	Article 230(1)

For foreign creditors

Foreign suppliers, lenders, and parent companies are often the last to hear about a PKPU decision, because the announcements are published in Indonesia and in Indonesian. The Bankruptcy Law recognises this. The cut-off rules for late claims do not apply where the creditor is domiciled outside Indonesia and that prevented it from registering earlier (Article 278(5)). If the existence of that obstacle is disputed, the Supervisory Judge decides after hearing the meeting (Article 278(6)).

We monitor the proceedings for you, prepare your claim in a form the Administrator will accept, arrange translations of foreign-language supporting documents where needed, and advise on the execution formalities for a power of attorney signed abroad.

Why Sagara

Our team is qualified to act as certified Receivers and Administrators. That is why we understand how claims are examined from the Administrator's side: which evidence is usually requested, and where claims are most often disputed. We use that procedural knowledge to prepare our clients' claims from day one.

In any single matter, we do not act as a creditor's counsel and as Administrator or Receiver at the same time. The law requires Administrators to be independent and free of conflicts of interest (Article 234(1)), and we hold ourselves to the same principle.

As with every engagement, we work in three layers: identification of your position and deadlines; assessment of the composition plan against a bankruptcy scenario; and management of the process through to completion.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a lawyer to file a claim?

Not necessarily. A creditor may appear in person or be represented by an attorney under a power of attorney (Article 269(3)). A PKPU petition is different: it must be signed by the petitioner and its advocate (Article 224(1)).

I missed the claim deadline. Is it too late?

There is still a window, but it is narrow. A late claim can still be entered in the list of claims if it is submitted no later than two days before the meeting and neither the Administrator nor the creditors present object (Article 278(3)). As noted above, these time limits do not apply to a creditor domiciled outside Indonesia whose location prevented earlier registration (Article 278(5)).

If I do not register my claim, am I still bound by the composition plan?

In principle, yes, because a ratified composition plan binds all creditors (Article 286). The exception concerns secured creditors who did not approve the plan; they are entitled to compensation under Article 281(2).

How long does PKPU take?

Where a creditor files the petition, temporary PKPU must be decided within 20 days of registration. The entire PKPU period, including extensions, may not exceed 270 days.

Every PKPU and bankruptcy case runs on its own timetable. If you are facing one, we accept consultations by appointment.

Creditor Representation in PKPU and Bankruptcy