Baihaki tipped as new Pertamina boss after Palace visit
Baihaki tipped as new Pertamina boss after Palace visit
JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid invited
the former president of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, Baihaki
Hakim, for a face-to-face talk on the oil business at Merdeka
palace on Friday, raising speculations that the President was
considering appointing him as the new leader of state oil and gas
company Pertamina.
Gus Dur summoned Baihaki to his office for a brief talk after
a meeting with the executives of Caltex.
Baihaki said the talk did not pertain to his nomination for
the top job at Pertamina.
"The President asked me about my vision of the oil business as
someone who has long been active in the oil industry... We
discussed investment, for instance. The talk is still about
general topics," Baihaki told reporters after the talk.
He said he would not reject being appointed as a new leader of
Pertamina.
"If I'm asked whether I am ready (to lead Pertamina), I will
say 'I'm ready.' Above all, if I am ordered, I will do so,"
Baihaki said.
Baihaki, who retired as Caltex's president on Jan. 1 of this
year, is one of the eight candidates proposed by Pertamina's
board of commissioners for Pertamina's top job replacing Martiono
Hadianto.
Other names proposed by the board are legislator Arifin
Panigoro of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-
Perjuangan); legislator Hatta Radjasa of the National Mandate
Party (PAN); the president of state tin mining company PT Timah,
Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas; the president of state gas company PT
PGN, Abdul Qoyum Tjandranegara; former Minister of Finance
Bambang Subianto, and the director general of oil and gas at the
Ministry of Mines and Energy, Rachmat Sudibyo.
Caltex's president commissioner Harun Al Rasyid, who was among
the Caltex executives paying a courtesy call to Gus Dur on
Friday, said Baihaki was known for his professionalism and was
capable of leading Pertamina.
Several of Pertamina's officials considered Baihaki as "too
westernized" in his view of the oil business, fearing that under
his leadership of Pertamina, foreign companies would increase
their domination of the country's oil and gas sector.
Gus Dur earlier said he wanted a new leader for Pertamina who
is honest, capable of managing the state company transparently,
and knowledgeable about the international oil business cartel.
Pertamina has been consistently rocked by corruption scandals
since its establishment in the 1960s.
The country's largest and most strategic company has
previously been a lucrative cash cow for the cronies and family
of former President Soeharto throughout his 32-year corrupt
regime.
Other Caltex executives who joined the courtesy call were
Caltex's president Humayunbosha; president of Chevron Services
Co. LE Lekins, and the president of Texaco Worldwide E&P
Operations. Caltex is a joint venture of American oil and gas
companies Chevron and Texaco. (jsk)