Kuntoro blends heart, skill
Kuntoro blends heart, skill
Riyadi Suparno, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, 58, the newly installed chairman of the
Aceh and Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Executing Agency,
has only one problem with living in Aceh: he cannot eat without
feeling of unease.
It all started when he visited a refugee camp in Banda Aceh on
the very first day of his visit to Aceh after being installed as
the chairman of the reconstruction agency where he met a family
of three: Eva, her husband and their son.
In making small talk, Kuntoro asked Eva the mundane question
of whether she and her family had eaten lunch, to which she
replied, "not yet."
From the refugee camp, Kuntoro was taken to Pendopo hall, from
where the distribution of aid and other needs for displaced
people is directed.
"At Pendopo, lunch was waiting for us. Delicious Acehnese
dishes were on the table. Then I wondered whether Eva and her
family had eaten lunch yet, whether the boy had been given
anything to eat.
"Since then, Eva and her family are on my mind whenever I eat
a meal," he said.
When asked what the experience meant to him as chairman of the
reconstruction agency, Kuntoro said, "I will try my best to
ensure that no money we manage is misused at the expense of
people like Eva and her family."
Kuntoro is not new to Aceh or the tsunami. As founder and
chairman of the Global Rescue Network, Kuntoro helped a team that
was among the first to arrive in Meulaboh, one of most devastated
towns along the western coast of Aceh.
Global Rescue Network volunteers are from various backgrounds,
including doctors, medics, rescuers, radio operators and
environmental experts.
Kuntoro is also an executive of the Indonesia Rescue Network
(IndoRescue), which facilitates the construction of houses and
drilled wells in Lamno, West Aceh.
Nevertheless, Kuntoro's appointment as the head of the
reconstruction agency is not without opposition. A number of
Acehnese have objected to his appointment, saying they would
rather see an Acehnese lead the reconstruction agency.
He appeared relaxed -- and even joked -- when asked about the
community opposition. Kuntoro treated the matter lightly when
asked why he had been chosen, saying: "I don't know. Ask those
who selected me. Well, maybe it's because I'm bald."
His selection is possibly because of his clean track record
throughout his career with state-owned enterprises and in
government.
In addition, he is also a capable manager, who transformed the
near-bankrupt PT Timah state tin mining company into not only a
profitable entity but one of the world's most efficient tin
mining firms. Because of this, Timah then successfully listed its
shares on the Jakarta and London stock exchanges.
Timah is often referred to as a fine example of corporate
restructuring, particularly of restructuring and privatization of
state enterprises. And Kuntoro is inseparable from Timah's
successful restructuring.
After serving as president of PT Timah since 1989 until 1994,
Kuntoro was appointed director general of mines at the Ministry
of Mines and Energy.
Unlike at Timah, where his star rose, Kuntoro met a major test
as a bureaucrat during his stint as director general of mines. It
was during this time that the infamous Busang gold mining scam
broke -- in which Canadian Bre X's claim that had discovered huge
gold deposits in Busang, East Kalimantan, turned out to be false.
Kuntoro was dragged willy-nilly into the abyss of Busang.
Because of the case, his relations with his superior, then
minister of mines and energy IB Sudjana, soured. Kuntoro was then
kicked out of the ministry and in 1997 was named deputy chairman
of the Investment Coordinating Board.
In March 1998, Kuntoro was surprisingly selected as the
minister of mines and energy in Soeharto's seventh -- and last --
Development Cabinet, which lasted only three months until May 22,
1998, when the Cabinet was dissolved after Soeharto stepped down
following massive prodemocracy protests and unrest.
BJ Habibie, who replaced Soeharto as president, retained
Kuntoro as minister of mines and energy in his Development and
Reform Cabinet, which lasted about one-and-a-half years until
Oct. 26, 1999.
During his tenure as minister, no big achievements were
recorded. This might be because of the uncertain situation at the
time when he was minister, both under Soeharto and Habibie.
Nevertheless, he managed to complete the drafting of two
important bills: the electricity bill and the oil and gas bill.
After retiring from the Cabinet, in 2000, Kuntoro was again
entrusted by then president Abdurrahman Wahid with the daunting
task of leading the debt-ridden state electricity company, PLN.
As PLN president, Kuntoro faced a mammoth job, namely handling
the company's huge debt and renegotiating agreements with
independent power producers (IPPs) that charged PLN exorbitant
prices for electricity they produced and sold to the state
electricity company.
Kuntoro managed to force IPPs to renegotiate the lop-sided
agreements, but failed to turn PLN into an as efficient firm as
he had made Timah. To be fair, PLN's problems were so huge that
it would have taken a miracle to transform it from a practically
bankrupt company into a profitable one in one year.
After retiring from PLN in 2001, Kuntoro returned to his alma
mater, the Bandung Institute of Technology, where he got his
industrial engineering degree as well as his doctorate degree on
engineering-decision science. He obtained his master's degree on
industrial and mechanical engineering from Stanford University,
the United States.
After the long hiatus since his stint at PLN, Kuntoro has
again caught the media's attention with his appointment as
chairman of the reconstruction agency.
With the new appointment, Kuntoro will have to move his family
to Aceh and live there for the next four years, and forgo all the
luxury he enjoyed in Jakarta and Bandung -- unless his position
in the reconstruction agency is taken by somebody else.
"Fortunately, I don't play golf. I do jog for exercise. I'm
looking forward to jogging on Aceh's beautiful beaches," he said.