Cacuk elected new chairman of ITB alumni

BANDUNG (JP): Cacuk Sudarijanto was elected the new chairman of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) alumni association yesterday, replacing Giri Suseno.

Of the 1,264 ballots, Cacuk, former general manager of state- owned telecommunications company PT Telkom, won 583 votes. He beat his closest rival Meilono Siswondo, president of construction company PT Bangun Cipta Sarana, who collected 314 votes.

The election, presided over by ITB's leading figures Soedjana Sapi'ie and Arifin Panigoro, concluded the association's fifth congress opened by President Soeharto in Jakarta Tuesday.

ITB is one of the leading suppliers of the country's technocrats. Eleven of the 40 members of the present cabinet graduated from the institute.

Other candidates were noted businessman Fadel Muhammad, the Jakarta Stock Exchange director Darwin Cyril Noerhadi and president of state-owned telecommunications company PT Indosat Tjahjono Soerjodibroto.

A director at the Technology Assessment and Application Agency (BPPT), Prasetyo Sunaryo, was originally listed among the candidates, but withdrew at the last minute.

Cacuk, a 1973 graduate from the school of mining engineering, said in a post-election conference that he planned to establish a network among the institute's alumni, with other universities, non-governmental organizations, the public and the government.

He expressed his guarded optimism that he could carry out the job, with the cooperation of other alumni.

"If we are open to other academicians from different disciplines, for example economics, the ITB alumni will not only have the expertise to produce goods, but also the skills to sell them," Cacuk said.

Cacuk added that he needed at least one month to draw up his programs in detail.

"I will need at least a month to formulate the programs," he said. (10)