Former Caltex boss named Pertamina chief<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid appointed on Monday
\nformer president of oil company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia
\nBaihaki Hakim as the new president of state oil and gas company
\nPertamina, replacing Martiono Hadianto.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman, nicknamed Gus Dur, also appointed six new
\ndirectors of the state company to assist Baihaki in carrying out
\nhis job. The new directors are mostly from within Pertamina.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur said Baihaki and the new directors faced a tough job
\nof turning the most strategic state company into an efficient and
\nworld-class company amid the increasingly competitive global oil
\nindustry.<\/p>\n
\"The new directors of Pertamina should work out a strategy to
\nface a seriously challenging century after the year 2003, that is
\nglobalization. If Pertamina is not well prepared, it will be
\nbeaten out by others,\" Gus Dur said at the ceremony to install
\nBaihaki and the new directors.<\/p>\n
\"In the past, Pertamina acted as a Trojan horse to enrich
\ncertain groups. (The anticorruption efforts) that were initiated
\nby the previous management should be continued by the new
\ndirectors,\" Gus Dur said.<\/p>\n
Pertamina was considered the country's worst symbol of
\ncorruption for several decades due to the deep involvement of the
\nfamily and cronies of former president Soeharto in its business.<\/p>\n
A graduate of the Bandung Institute of Technology, Baihaki,
\nwho was born in Sijunjung, West Sumatra, on Dec. 3, 1942, led
\nCaltex Pacific Indonesia, a joint venture of American firms
\nChevron and Texaco, from 1994 to the end of 1999.<\/p>\n
Baihaki is the first executive of a foreign contractor to hold
\nthe position of Pertamina president.<\/p>\n
Another outsider appointed to Pertamina's board of directors
\non Monday is Ainun Naim, 39, who was research and electronics
\ndevelopment program (EDP) coordinator at Gadjah Mada University's
\nmaster management program in Yogyakarta. He was installed as
\nPertamina's new finance director.<\/p>\n
Some sources claim Ainun is part of the inner circle of
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais and Minister of
\nFinance Bambang Sudibyo.<\/p>\n
Other members of the board are exploration and production
\ndirector Gatot K. Wiroyudo, who previously headed the Foreign
\nContractors Management Body (BPPKA); processing director Arifin
\nNawawi, who was previously the president of liquefied natural gas
\nproducer PT Arun NGL Co; Iham Syarif, who maintains his position
\nas director of shipping, communication and ports; director of
\ngeneral affairs Syahrial Daud, who was previously the head of
\nPertamina's foreign marketing department; and director of
\ndomestic provision Harry Purnomo, who was previously a division
\nhead at the domestic provision department.<\/p>\n
Baihaki vowed to improve Pertamina's efficiency and turn it
\ninto a world-class company.<\/p>\n
He also vowed to be professional, brushing aside the worries
\nof some parties that he could favor foreign contractors over
\nlocal contractors given his position at the foreign oil company.<\/p>\n
\"The worries of some parties that I will give preference to
\nforeign contractors are not correct. I am an Indonesian and my
\nmission is clearly for the nation's interest,\" Baihaki said after
\nbeing installed.<\/p>\n
Oil and gas expert Ramses Hutapea said he was pessimistic that
\nBaihaki could successfully transform Pertamina into a profit-
\noriented company as long as the government continued taking all
\nof its profit and did not allow it to be financially independent.<\/p>\n
He said some people could have high expectations of Baihaki
\ngiven his career in Caltex, but he warned that Pertamina was far
\nmore complex than Caltex.<\/p>\n
Ramses, however, believed Baihaki would not favor foreign
\ncontractors over local ones.<\/p>\n
\"The House of Representative will also closely watch
\nPertamina's move, giving Baihaki no leeway to stray from the
\nnation's interest by favoring foreign parties,\" Ramses said.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Mining
\nProfesssionals (Perhapi) Herman Afif Kusumo also criticized the
\nappointment of Baihaki.<\/p>\n
He said he did not believe Baihaki would be able to turn
\nPertamina into a world-class company as expected by Gus Dur.<\/p>\n
\"Nothing will happen (in Pertamina) as Baihaki's track of
\nrecords is limited to exploration and production, while Pertamina
\nis a multidimensional company,\" Herman was quoted by Antara as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
He said Pertamina did not only handle exploration and
\nproduction, but also liquefied natural gas (LNG), petrochemical
\nand refinery business.<\/p>\n
\"Thus, there is no guarantee that Baihaki will turn Pertamina
\ninto a global market player,\" Herman said. (jsk\/prb\/bkm)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/former-caltex-boss-named-pertamina-chief-1447893297",
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