Habibie names Martiono as new Pertamina boss

JAKARTA (JP): President B.J. Habibie has named Martiono Hadianto, director general of customs and excise at the Ministry of Finance, as the next president of state oil and gas company Pertamina, Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto announced on Friday.

Martiono will replace Soegianto who took over the helm of the country's largest state company in January.

Kuntoro refused to comment in detail on Martiono's appointment.

"I hope he will work hard," Kuntoro said at the end of his weekly news conference while walking to his car.

The installation ceremony would be held on Monday at 10 a.m. at the Ministry of Mines and Energy headquarters, he added.

Rumors abounded that Kuntoro proposed two other names for Pertamina's top post. One was his close friend, the president of state-owned tin miner PT Tambang Timah, Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, and the other was the president of state gas distribution company PT Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN), Qoyum Tjandranegara.

Kuntoro refused to comment on the rumors.

Martiono, born in Semarang on Sept. 25, 1945, graduated in Chemistry at the Bandung Institute of Technology. He pursued his study at Oregon University in the United States where he got a Master of Business Administration in 1976.

He started his career at the Ministry of Finance in 1973 where he served as director general of the supervision of state enterprises from 1992 to 1995.

The father of three children was an assistant to then Vice President Habibie from March to May this year until Habibie took over the nation's top position after president Soeharto resigned.

Habibie named Martiono as director general of customs and excise in July, replacing Soeharto's relative Soehardjo Soebardi.

"I learned that he became Pertamina president today (Friday) when I received an invitation to attend his installment on Monday," Martiono's wife told The Jakarta Post.

Martiono takes the helm of Pertamina, which has 30,000 employees across the country, as it is struggling to improve its battered image as a cash cow for Soeharto's family and cronies.

The company recently announced that 159 contracts it had entered into were awarded to companies linked to Soeharto's family and cronies. It has already severed ties with some of the companies.

Energy analyst Tadjuddin Noor Said hoped that under Martiono Pertamina would be able to end the domination of foreign contractors in the development of the country's oil and gas resources.

"Currently, 95 percent of the country's oil and gas resources are under the control of foreign contractors," Tadjuddin said. (jsk)