House begins selection hearings for BP Migas chief

House begins selection hearings for BP Migas chief

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The House of Representatives started the selection process on
Monday for the chairman of the Oil and Gas Upstream Regulatory
Agency (BP Migas).

The House is required to select one of the three candidates
nominated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- the Ministry of
Energy and Mineral Resources' director general of oil and gas,
Iin Arifin Takhyan, BP Migas deputy chairman Kardaya Warnika and
BP Migas operations director Trijana Kartoatmodjo.

During Monday's selection hearings, the three were asked
similar questions designed to ascertain their expertise in the
oil and gas field and their plans for the future of the state
agency.

Kardaya took the stand first in front of members of the
House's mining and environment commission, followed by Trijana
and Iin.

Commission chairman Agusman Effendi of Golkar Party faction
said that each candidate spent around two hours answering the
questions posed by the legislators.

"Most of the questions, of course, were intended to appraise
their capabilities and competence, as well as their knowledge of
the industry," he told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of the
hearings.

Agusman said that his faction, the largest in the House, had
yet to select a candidate to fill the post.

"We will first discuss the matter among faction members before
we select one of the three candidates," he added.

But the second largest party in the House, the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was more forthcoming about
the issue.

"Our faction prefers that Kardaya gets the chairmanship
position as he has been with the agency for some time and has a
deep knowledge about BP Migas," PDI-P legislator Pramono Anung
told the Post, adding that Kardaya was also the youngest of the
three candidates.

Pramono refused to say when the legislators would announce
their selection, saying that the House would send its
recommendation to the President first.

The current BP Migas chairman, Rachmat Sudibyo, who has
already reached retirement age, had his contract extended through
last year as a result of the general elections.

As soon as the new government was elected, the Ministry of
Energy and Mineral Resources proposed the three candidates to the
President before the latter forwarded their names to the House.

The President appoints the BP Migas chairman by way of
presidential decree.