Arwin named Telkom's new president director

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