Sutarto to be Pertamina’s Chairman
Wednesday, 06 December, 2006 | 14:51 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The President appointed former Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. TNI (retired) Endriartono Sutarto to be PT Pertamina’s Chairman of Board of Commissioners.

At the same time, two new board of commissioner members were promoted, Irnanda from the State Enterprise Ministry and Maizar Rahman, who is currently the OPEC Governor.

Sutarto replaced Martiono Hadianto. The new members of the board of commissioners replaced J. Purwono, Director General of Electricity and Energy Usage at the Energy and Mineral Resources Department, and Iin Arifin Takhyan, who was appointed as Vice Managing Director of Pertamina a while ago.

The other two commissioner members were old faces, Umar Said and Muhammad Abduh. This new Pertamina commissioner formation will be inaugurated Friday by the State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto.

The Pertamina commissioner composition was confirmed during a closed meeting led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. After the meeting, Purnomo explained that the post of Pertamina’s chairman of board of commissioners needs managerial skills. This is one of the reasons that the President chose Sutarto. “Managerial skill is the most used skill by the chairman of board of commissioners. So what is important is his experience in taking decisions,” said Purnomo at the President’s office, Jakarta, yesterday (5/12).

Pertamina’s Managing Director Ari H. Soemarno said he did not know the reason of Sutarto’s appointment. However, he acknowledged the retired army officer’s capability has been tested when he was in charge of TNI. “He is a good in personnel management. His experience is valuable for Pertamina to move forward,” he said.

Sutarto told Tempo that he was pleased and also regards the duty as a responsibility. “It is known that Pertamina’s problems are many,” he said after the closed meeting with the President.

Regarding the kerosene shortage in the last few weeks, he stressed he will monitor the distribution closely, especially that sold to industry. “Because, if much kerosene goes to industries, Pertamina may not be the only one to be responsible,” he said.

BADRIAH