Soedarmo stays on board as Dirgantara president<\/p>\n
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The new controlling owner of ailing state-owned aircraft maker PT
\nDirgantara Indonesia surprisingly decided to retain Edwin
\nSoedarmo as the company's president, although the other board
\nmembers were mostly new faces.<\/p>\n
The decision was made during a shareholders' meeting on Friday
\nat the headquarters of the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
\n(IBRA), the new owner of the company.<\/p>\n
Around 150 employees of Dirgantara from Bandung, the home base
\nof the company, held a demonstration in front of the agency to
\nprotest an earlier decision to dismiss some 6,000 employees.<\/p>\n
IBRA, a government agency mandated to take over non-performing
\nloans from troubled banks during the 1997 financial crisis, now
\nowns 92.9 percent of Dirgantara after converting the latter's
\ndebt of Rp 1.77 trillion into equity participation. The remaining
\nshares are held by the government.<\/p>\n
Edwin had received strong criticism from the company's
\nemployees and some top management officials for proposing the
\nmass dismissal of workers, which was approved by the government
\nearlier this week, as part of an overall restructuring program to
\nhelp the company lift itself out of years of financial
\ndifficulties.<\/p>\n
Dirgantara has said it would retain 3,673 workers through a
\nreselection process.<\/p>\n
IBRA Chairman Syafruddin Temenggung defended the decision to
\nretain Edwin, saying that he was deemed professional and
\ncommitted to the company.<\/p>\n
The shareholders created a new vice president's position in
\nthe management to help with Dirgantara's restructuring program,
\nparticularly to consolidate the company, which will focus on only
\nfour core businesses out of its current 28. The four are:
\naircraft assembly, parts and component manufacturing, maintenance
\noperation and engineering services.<\/p>\n
IBRA installed one of its senior staff, Rudhy M. Mokobombang,
\nas Dirgantara vice president.<\/p>\n
The agency also installed Iwan W. Soemekto as the new director
\nof commerce and business development, and Andung A. Nitimihardja
\nas a commissioner.<\/p>\n
The rest of the directors and the commissioners were appointed
\nfrom Dirgantara, the government bureaucracy and professionals.<\/p>\n
After winning a debt restructuring facility from IBRA,
\nDirgantara will now focus on raising $39 million in fresh loans
\nto help finance ongoing projects with the Pakistani Air Force,
\nBritish Aerospace Engineering and the Indonesian Air Force.<\/p>\n
Edwin said at a Friday press conference that state-owned Bank
\nMandiri was ready to provide part of the loans.<\/p>\n
Before the shareholders' meeting, IBRA deputy for asset
\nmanagement and credit Mohammad Syahrial had said besides Bank
\nMandiri, Dirgantara could also seek loans from other
\ninstitutions, using its assets as collateral.<\/p>\n
Dirgantara said it had assets worth $61 million, comprising of
\nunsold products, real estate and property in West Java and
\nsubsidiaries.<\/p>\n
Syafruddin explained during the meeting that should IBRA be
\nclosed down early next year (the agency was set up in 1998 with a
\nfive-year mandate), full ownership of Dirgantara would be
\nreturned to the government. He declined to reveal future options
\nregarding this matter.<\/p>\n
Dirgantara, formerly known as PT Industri Pesawat Terbang
\nNusantara (IPTN), was established in the 1980s by B.J. Habibie,
\nformer technology and research minister under the Soeharto era.<\/p>\n
The company has been struggling financially for many years,
\nwhich had forced previous governments to provide a bailout
\nfacility to keep it afloat.<\/p>\n
Board of Directors<\/p>\n
President : Edwin Soedarmo (Dirgantara)
\nVice president : Rudhy M. Mokobombang (IBRA)
\nFinance director : Hidayat Hasan (Professional)
\nTechnology director : Mohammad Mochajan (Dirgantara)
\nOperation\/
\nproduction director : Budi Wuraskito (Dirgantara)
\nSupporting director : Muhammad Nuril Fuad (Dirgantara)
\nCommerce and
\nbusiness director : Iwan W. Soemekto (IBRA)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/soedarmo-stays-on-board-as-dirgantara-president-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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