Wed, 12 Jan 2000

Kuntoro appointed new president of ailing PLN

JAKARTA (JP): Former minister of mines and energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto has been appointed new president of state-owned electricity company PLN, officials said on Tuesday.

The director general of electricity and energy development at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Endro Utomo Notodisuryo, confirmed that President Abdurrahman Wahid had named Kuntoro to replace Adhi Satriya, who tendered his resignation late last month in protest over the government's handling of PLN's dispute with its independent power producers.

"I was orally informed about his appointment this afternoon (Tuesday) by the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises and Investment," Endro, who is also PLN's president commissioner, told The Jakarta Post by phone on Tuesday evening.

According to a press invitation sent to The Post, Kuntoro will be installed on Wednesday afternoon in a ceremony at the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises and Investment.

A controversial but respected figure, Kuntoro, who will turn 53 this year, served as the minister of mines and energy from March 1998 to November 1999.

A Muslim born in the Central Java town of Purwokerto, Kuntoro studied at the Bandung Institute of Technology and Stanford University in the United States.

He rose to prominence with his restructuring of state-owned tin company PT Tambang Timah in the early 1990s.

Kuntoro laid off more than half of Timah's employees to reduce costs, helping a company which had been near bankruptcy become 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 scandal.

The Busang goldfield was touted as the largest gold find of the century but an independent study revealed the find to be a hoax.

As minister of mines and energy, Kuntoro introduced a bill to cut the monopolies of state oil and gas company Pertamina. The bill eventually failed to pass due to the resistance of Pertamina and legislators. Kuntoro was replaced in his post by current Minister of Mines and Energy Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Adhi and PLN planning director Hardiv Situmeang tendered their resignations late last month after Abdurrahman ordered them to drop the lawsuit filed by PLN against independent power producer PT Paiton Energy with the Central Jakarta District Court.

Endro said Kuntoro was the right person to handle the problems of the financially ailing PLN because he was a member of the interministerial team formed by then president B.J. Habibie to resolve the company's difficulties.

He said Kuntoro was involved in guiding the former management of PLN in renegotiating its contracts with its independent power producers.

"By appointing a former minister to lead PLN, the President apparently wanted to show to the world that he is serious in resolving PLN's problems," Endro said.

The deputy for strategic industries at the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises and Investment, Cahyana A, said he was happy with the appointment of Kuntoro as it was in line with the office's policy of fostering a professional corporate culture in all state enterprises.

"Kuntoro is a professional man," Cahyana told The Post. (jsk)