Hard job awaits new mines and energy minister

JAKARTA (JP): The country's new minister of mines and energy, Kuntoro Mangunsubroto, will face the tough job of helping improve the country's battered economy with dollar-based earnings from the energy and mining sector, analysts said on the weekend.

Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Mining Professionals Herman Afif Kusumo and energy observer Iskandar Mandji considered Kuntoro's job as crucial because mines and energy was among the few sectors from which the government expected dollar revenues during a crisis.

They said the new minister would also face the difficult job of raising fuel prices and electricity tariffs without bringing much more pains to the public, which is already toiling under the monetary crisis.

The government is planning to increase fuel prices and electricity tariffs in the near future to reduce the government's subsidies to both.

But, both believed the new minister has the capacity to do his job in view of his consistency, managerial skill and long experience in the ministry.

"He is a brave man with good managerial skills, but I feel sorry that he is facing a very grave job for now," Herman said.

"He is an open-minded official, a hard worker, a man of vision. With the support of a good staff, he will be able to do his job," Mandji said, praising Kuntoro as one of the best choices in the cabinet's lineup.

Kuntoro, who turned 51 on the same day as the announcement of his appointment, told reporters that he had yet to take some time to adapt himself to his new job before designing a strategy to fulfill his job.

A Moslem, born in the Central Java town of Purwokerto, Kuntoro studied at the Bandung's Institute of Technology and the Stanford University in the United States. He has five children.

He rose to prominence with his restructuring program to revive the state tin company PT Tambang Timah from near-bankruptcy in the early 1990s.

He took what analysts say was a bold move by retrenching more than half of Timah's employees to reduce costs, replaced several directors and moved the firm's headquarters from Jakarta to the mining site on Bangka island, South Sumatra.

The company, which is now listed on the Jakarta and London stock exchanges, is considered as the world's most efficient tin company.

He was promoted to director general of mining in 1993, but was dismissed by the then minister of mines and energy Sudjana in 1997 following the Busang gold scandal.

The Busang goldfield was touted as the world's biggest gold find for the century but an independent study said it was only a hoax.

Sources said he was dismissed by Sudjana because he was opposed to Sudjana's move to obtain a stake in the Busang goldfield for the government. Kuntoro insisted that the government should not breach any contract.

After his dismissal, he was appointed deputy planner to the Investment Coordinating Board.

He said he used his eight-year tenure at the board to reflect on mistakes that resulted in his dismissal and he thought his career was over.

"That's why I was surprised when the President called me," Kuntoro said.

Herman said that Kuntoro was an acceptable figure to foreign investors in view of their demands for consistency and transparency.

Herman also urged the new minister to reform human resources at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, to bring maximum benefit to the development of the country's mines and energy sector.

"The quality of human resources at the ministry is poor. Kuntoro has to work hard to improve its quality," Herman said. (jsk)