Habibie names Martiono as new Pertamina boss
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)