Arwin named Telkom's new president director

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Shareholders of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) named on Friday banker Arwin Rasyid to take over the firm's top post from outgoing president director Kristiono.

In a massive reorganization, the shareholders also replaced two other directors and added two more positions in the new management.

"I won't claim that I'm a telecommunications person, but I'll learn," Arwin, 57, said after the annual shareholders meeting on Friday.

The Rome-born banker, who began his career at the Bank of America in Jakarta in 1980, said he would use his experience to look for more synergies between Telkom and the banking sector.

Deputy to State Minister of State Enterprises Roes Aryawijaya said Arwin's appointment as the new leader of the country's biggest telecommunications company was based on merit and his track-record.

"A person like him has to be in charge of a large corporation, if not, it would be a waste," said Roes, who represented the government, which controls the firm through its 51.19 percent stake.

He said the government would conduct annual performance reviews of the new board of directors during their five-year tenure.

"The old board of directors left a good legacy in terms of performance," said Arwin. "If the Attorney General asks for any data or information, we will cooperate fully."

In the meeting, the shareholders also agreed to pay out dividends amounting to 50 percent of last year's net income of Rp 6.13 trillion (US$635.23 million), or Rp 152 per share. In January, shareholders had received an interim dividend of Rp 143 billion.

Before being named as Telkom's chief, Arwin served as vice president director of state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia, the nation's third-largest bank by assets, from 2003 to May 2005.

Telkom's former business development director, Garuda Sugardo, who created the Telkom Flexi service, was named as the company's first vice president director. The new positions also included that of consumer director Guntur Siregar, who had served as Telkom's finance director until April 2004.

Human resources director Woeryanto Soeradji was replaced by John Welly, while Arief Yahya replaced Suryatin Setiawan as enterprise and wholesale director.

Prior to the shareholders meeting, the President's interdepartmental anticorruption team, which is investigating government agencies and state-owned enterprises, said that it would raise its investigation status of Telkom from an inquiry to a prosecution.

The team's head Hendarman Supandji said earlier this week that the President had asked his team to seriously probe graft allegations surrounding the company due to the potentially huge state losses.

The team is expected to release names of suspects next week after gathering more information from witnesses.

President commissioner Tanri Abeng, however, said he was unaware of the probe. (002)

PT Telkom new management President Director : Arwin Rasyid Vice President Director * : Garuda Sugardo Finance Director : Rinaldi Firmansyah Network and Solutions Director : Abdul Harris Enterprise and Wholesale Director : Arief Yahya Human Resources Director : John Welly Director of Consumers * : Guntur Siregar * new positions

Board of commissioners President Commissioner : Tanri Abeng Commissioner : Anggito Abimanyu

: Gatot Trihargo Independent Commissioner : Arif Arryman

: P. Sartono