Director general quits, sticks with organization

JAKARTA (JP): Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises Cacuk Sudarjanto has "voluntarily resigned from his position", Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi Sasono said here on Monday.

Adi said Cacuk would now focus his attention on Unity of People's Sovereignty, a newly established social organization.

He said the decision was made voluntarily by Cacuk, after his position as chairman of the organization raised questions amid increasing demands that all ministers and senior government officials be banned from campaigning.

"President Habibie asked me if Pak Cacuk could choose to concentrate on one of the two positions he holds to avoid complaints and confusion among people," he said at a news conference.

According to Adi, Unity of People's Sovereignty is a social organization with the mission to improve human resources, but many people linked it to the People's Sovereignty Party, one of 48 parties contesting the general election in June.

"Basically Pak Cacuk has no problem with carrying out his job as director general but he prefers to focus on his organization," Adi said. "So he will temporarily resign from his position for an indefinite period," he added.

Cacuk said the organization he chaired would assist the People's Economy Posts (PER), which are established throughout the country to promote small-scale enterprises and cooperatives.

There are around 700 PER units at present, and the government aims to have a total of 5,000 by the end of this year, he said.

"I hope that, through my organization, we can build true enterprises, established by hard-work and not by privileges and facilities given by the government, as happened during the New Order regime," he said. (gis)