Cacuk appointed as IBRA senior vice chairman

Cacuk appointed as IBRA senior vice chairman

JAKARTA (JP): The government has appointed a former president
of PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia as senior vice chairman of the
Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) in its continuing
effort to restructure the agency.

Finance minister Bambang Sudibyo said on Tuesday that Cacuk
Sudarijanto's appointment was stipulated in a presidential decree
issued on Monday.

"The President (Abdurrahman Wahid) issued yesterday a decree
on the new organizational structure of IBRA," he told a news
conference.

He said Glenn S. Yusuf remained chairman of IBRA.

Bambang said IBRA also remained under his ministry with five
deputies.

He said Cacuk was appointed because of his good track record
in leading state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom and
his strong integrity.

Cacuk was considered one of the country's brilliant young
managers when he headed Telkom in the early 1990s.

His career stalled when he was removed from PT Telkom in 1992.
He was rumored to have been tough on relatives and business
cronies of then president Soeharto who were seeking to increase
their business gains through the company.

Cacuk was appointed the director general of small and medium
scale enterprises at the Ministry of Cooperatives and Small
Enterprises during the brief administration of B.J. Habibie. He
later resigned from the post to head a social organization linked
to the People's Sovereign Party, a small political party.

IBRA, a unit of the finance ministry, was launched in early
1998 with a mission to help restructure the country's beleaguered
banking sector and raise money to finance the program.

The agency controls some Rp 600 trillion (about US$85.70
billion) worth of banking assets, including some Rp 230 trillion
in nonperforming bank loans, making it as the largest and most
powerful economic institution in the country.

Bambang is among those who have criticized IBRA for being slow
in recovering the banks' assets, particularly in dealing with bad
debtors, who are mostly well-connected businesspeople.

The agency is targeting raising Rp 17 trillion in the current
fiscal year, of which more than Rp 9 trillion has been fulfilled.
The agency said it was optimistic it would be able to reach the
target.

Proceeds will be used to help finance the interest rate of the
bonds issued by the government to finance the bank restructuring
and recapitalization programs.

IBRA is targeting raising Rp 28.5 trillion next year.

Bambang acknowledged he picked Cacuk but said he consulted
Abdurrahman about the decision.

Since Bambang took office in October, there has been
speculation that he is moving to replace Glenn.

But Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Finance and
Industry Kwik Kian Gie dismissed the reports and said Glenn would
not be replaced.

Bambang also said on Monday that Glenn would still report to
both the President and the finance minister. (rei)